Hi everyone, and thanks in advance for any help you have to offer. I’m knitting some fingerless gloves and want to put a design on the front using purl stitches. Most of the design is made up of single purl stitches. Because the background is stockinette, some of the purl stitches are getting lost or sunken into the background. Is there another stitch I can use to make the design pop a little bit, or is there a technique I can use with the purl to make it a little more pronounced? Thank you again.
Using Purl Stitches to Create Design on Stockinette Background
Making the purl sts pop may partly be due to the yarn and how tightly it’s spun.
I notice in some bibs that I’ve made, the designer leaves spaces between rows with single purl sts. See the chart at the end of this pattern for example.
That spacing and probably the cotton yarn contributes to the visibility of the design.
The only thing I can think of is to embroider over the purl stitches with duplicate stitch after you finish knitting. I am not sure whether this would work to make the purls more prominent – you would have to test it out on a swatch. And it might be fiddly if the stitches in the design are spaced out.
Maybe you could try out a swatch using double strand for the bumps?
That would make them thicker and the strand can be carried across the back where you have knit stitches worked in a single strand.
Never tried it before and perhaps the tension would not be nice but it’s just something I thought you could experiment with.
Maybe have the second strand in a different colour?
Thank you all! You’re a wonderful group! These are great suggestions. I recently knitted a washcloth with an “E” in purl stitches and it turned out beatifully - maybe because it was cotton yarn and pink. The yarn I’m using for the fingerless gloves is Cascade superwash merino, and its gray so stitches are less popping.
Thanks so much for your help.
Superwash is usually a softer yarn due to the removal of the side “burrs” on the yarn. The stitches won’t pop they way they do with cotton or other tightly spun wools.
Good luck with your project however you decide to work it. We’d love to see a photo when you finish!