I feel like an idiot that I cant figure this out. I have been watching the videos over and over and doing them exactly as shown. Here is my problem- all of my rows look like purl rows, no matter if I do a knit or a purl stitch. Is there some elementary step I am missing? I am getting so frustrated. Any advice?
If you are truly doing knit rows on one side and purl rows on the other…then you should get “stockinette” stitch…that common pattern you see on most knitwear - smooth “v” on the front and a sort of “bump” on the back.
If you knit both front and back, you get all “bumps” which is garter (which you also get if you only purl).
Am I getting what you’re tryin to lay down?
:shrug:
I think I am getting what you are layin down. I am not understanding the front and back part- bc I think what it looks like on both sides is bumpy one row then V’s the next row, then bumpy the next, then V’s etc. How do I get all the V’s on one side and all the bumps on the other? I know there is something extremely elementary that I am missing here…
Knit stitch and purl stitch are the reverse of each other. If you want one side to be smooth with the v’s, you knit a row, turn the work as usual and purl the row, turn and knit the row, etc.
It sounds like you’re actually knitting each row. Knit one row, then purl the next, knit the next, purl the next, etc.
sue
Is there a way you can take a pic of what you have done and post it so the ladies can see it and tell you what may be going wrong?
Be sure that when you knit, the yarn is pointing away from you, and when you purl, the yarn is pointing toward you.
Are you practicing doing all knit stitch or all purl stitch? Let’s say you are knitting a scarf. If you do the scarf in nothing but knit stitch it is going to look like all purl bumps…this is called garter stitch. You get the same effect by doing nothing but purl stitches.
(this is not the case if you are knitting in the round but we won’t worry about that right now.)
If you are knitting one row, then purling one row, then knitting one row, etc… then you should have stockinette stitch. one side of stockinette stitch should be the purl bumps and the other side will be the knit Vs.
Now…if you are doing something different, tell us how you are knitting and we can see if we can figure out why you are getting nuthin’ but purls. 
okay i just reread your second post and it looks like you might be forgetting which row you are on when you turn your work…this is a problem i have all the time because i have the attention span of a 2 year old.
When you look at stockinette and see the Vs you should be doing the knit stitch. When you see the bumps you should be purling. That should keep your knits and purls on the correct side.
I sometimes mark one side with a stitch marker so i remember which stitch i am supposed to be doing.
http://knit.sushi-cat.net/html/japanese_help.htm
Here is a page that has good examples of what garter (knit every row; OR purl every row) stockinette (knit one row, purl one row, knit one row, repeat as necessary), reverse stockinette (the “backside” of the stockinette), and other stitches look like. Usually (but not always) the V-side (knit side) of stockinette is considered the “right side,” meaning the outside or “public” side of the sweater. On occasion but not as frequently the reverse stockinette is intentionally made to be on the outside. Garter and reverse stockinette do appear similar, but in garter the stitches (purl bumps) appear more staggered and in reverse stockinette the bumps look more fine, if that makese sense.
Mine look more like one row of bumpy, one row of V’s, and so on. I took a picture-
I think I figured it out!! I still dont know what I was doing wrong but now I am doing it right. Thank you so much for you help!