How to Do the Purl Stitch: Step-by-Step Beginner Tutorial (with Videos!)

The purl stitch is the essential partner to the knit stitch. Once you can purl, you unlock ribbing (K1, P1), stockinette stitch, seed stitch, and almost every other textured knitting pattern you can think of.

In this beginner-friendly tutorial, you’ll learn how to work the purl stitch in both English style and Continental style, so you can understand how it works and choose the method that feels most natural in your hands.

Before you begin, you'll need:

• A pair of knitting needles

• A skein of smooth, light-coloured yarn

• A cast-on row already on your needle (the knitted cast on is good for brand new beginners)

If you haven’t learned how to work the knit stitch yet, I strongly recommend starting with that first. It’s generally easier, helps you understand how stitches sit on the needle, and makes learning the purl stitch feel far less confusing when you come back to it.

English-style Purl Stitch

In English-style knitting, the working yarn is held in the right hand.

1. Bring the working yarn to the front of your work (this is essential because purl stitches are always worked with the yarn in front).

2. Insert the right needle from back to front into the first stitch on the left-hand needle.

3. Wrap the working yarn anti-clockwise around the right needle.

4. Use the right needle tip to pull the wrapped yarn through the stitch.

5. Slide the old stitch off the left needle.

   
   

You’ve just worked a purl stitch.

You can now repeat it across the row.

Continental-Style Purl Stitch

In Continental knitting, the working yarn is held in the left hand.

1. Bring the working yarn to the front of your work.

2. Insert the right needle from back to front into the first stitch on the left needle.

3. Using your left index finger, wrap the yarn anti-clockwise around the right-hand needle.

4. Once you've wrapped the yarn, keep the movement small and pull the yarn through the stitch.

5. Slip the old stitch off the left needle.

Continue working each stitch across the row.

This is not the style I usually knit in and I actually CANNOT purl continental, and so a tutorial made by me here would be a disaster. Instead, check out this amazing tutorial by Jessica Mcdonald!

Note: A dislike of purling is extremely common. If you find the purl stitch more awkward or slower than the knit stitch, you’re absolutely not alone. This evens out with practice and the more you purl, the more natural it will feel. Promise!

Common Purl Stitch Problems (and Quick Fixes)

My purl stitches are loose or baggy

→ This is very common. Beginner purl tension is often looser than knit tension, especially at first. Focus on consistent movements rather than pulling the yarn tighter, even tension across your knitting comes with the muscle memory to make near-exact, repetitive movements each time.

Quick fix? Work a 20x20 cm swatch with purls across every row. This will form a garter stitch piece of fabric, and by the end of your swatch your purling will be much better! If you work it with cotton yarn, you can even use it as a dishcloth!

My fabric looks uneven

→ This can happen for the same reason mentioned above, so your movements are different each time. However, it can also happen when working stockinette stitch (which you can find it well-explained by Sarah Maker in her post) because the purl stitch uses more yarn, and is therefore larger, than the knit stitch.

The stitches look weird

→ Are you twisting your stitches? Be sure you're wrapping your yarn in an anti-clockwise movement be it purls or knit stitches!

→ Or maybe you have worked an accidental yarn over, so you see two stretches of yarn on the stitch? This happens when you don't move your yarn to the front of the work before purling and as a result create a 'double stitch'.

Where to Go From Here

Now you've started to build your knitting foundation, here's where to go next:

• How to Increase in Knitting: A Must-Read Beginner Knitters Guide

• How to Start Knitting for Total Beginners: The Ultimate Guide

• 4 Beginner-Friendly Knitting Patterns to Learn How To Knit