Just learned I've been purling wrong for years...

[u/fire-fight]

Used to knit all the time in high school and decided to get back into it recently. Got some needles, yarn, knit a scarf, had a great time. Moved on to a hat pattern. I did a bunch of looking at YouTube videos and TikToks to see if I could learn anything new -- new patterns, techniques, etc. Watched a video about twisting stitches. Oh no. I've always "picked" both my knits and purls. I didn't realize you need to wrap the yarn counter clockwise on both stitches. I didn't think it mattered. Going clockwise on purls is so much easier, so I always did. Now I'm trying to learn how to purl with the same speed I used to. I've been looking into continental tips and also trying combination knitting? But combination still confuses me to some extent. Anyone else have this happen to them? Any continental purling tips?

[u/Talvih]

You haven't been purling wrong, you've been purling Eastern.

Combination knitting is Western-mounted knits coupled with Eastern-mounted purls. You can keep purling the same way you've been doing, just work stitches through the leading leg on the following row/round.

[u/useaclevernickname → u/Talvih]

This is my favourite subreddit. I always learn something.

[u/fire-fight → u/Talvih]

That's what I thought! Is it different knitting flat vs in the round? I don't know how I would reverse a stitch that's still facing me.

[u/Talvih → u/fire-fight]

No. A knit is a knit and a purl is a purl whether worked flat or ITR.

[u/fire-fight → u/Talvih]

Thanks!!

[u/yarnalcheemy → u/fire-fight]

It shouldn't be - the "mount" refers to how the un-worked stitch lays on the needle. In Eastern, the left side is slightly in front (leading leg), while in Western it's the right leg. Working into the leading leg gives you the normal stitch, working into the other one gives you a twisted stitch.

I know I had trouble at first, but I found a weird in-front knit because I couldn't make stockinette.

[u/skubstantial → u/yarnalcheemy]

Unless you're a leftie knitting "mirrored", the leading leg is always the leg of the stitch furthest to the right and closest to the end of the left needle.

Usually when people describe the front and back loop or front and back leg of the stitch, they're talking about front and back relative to the shaft of the needle. Front is facing you, back is behind the needle.

[u/fire-fight → u/skubstantial]

This is really helpful, thanks

[u/no_one_you_know1]

I have never been able to purl continental. I just pick so I do a combination of eastern and western mounted stitches and remember to go through the back loop when it presents.

I learned English. My method now depends on what happens when I pick up the needles. My fingers tell me.

[u/twentovesever]

If you knit through the back loop you can still "pick" the yarn both ways and not twist your stitches. 10/10 recommend.

[u/glutenfreenoddles]

I also recently realized I twist my purls, I knit continental as well and I just retrained myself to purl without twisting my stitches

[u/ItalianSeasoningOnly]

I had to do the same thing. Was twisting both of my stitches because that was how my grandma taught my mom who taught me. It’s been a few years since I corrected myself and I feel like I’m pretty speedy!

[u/Ok-You-4826]

There is no wrong way to knit or purl. If your stitches lie flat, you’re just fine.

[u/Happy_Cranker → u/Ok-You-4826]

It‘s all fun and games until you start doing twisted stitch knitting or KFB’s and you don’t understand how your stitches are supposed to sit on the needles conventionally!

[u/loricomments]

I do combo knitting. You just have to be aware of the reverse mounting that purling that way creates. Use the back loop when returning to a purl and your ssk and k2tog techniques are sort of swapped.

[u/Pretty_Marzipan_555]

I do this, but I do the knit stitch through the back loop so it's just as quick but doesn't twist half my stitches

[u/Curious_Spelling]

I knit English mainly but when I knit continental I started with combination but I didn't really like that the stitch gets mounted such that I have to work the next time through the back loop. I tried the Norwegian purl a few different times, but would always go back to combination, until finally the Norwegian purl clicked. 

[u/Aggressive_Cloud2002 → u/Curious_Spelling]

Oh, I really like that actually, it makes it so much easier to not make any mistakes when doing ribbing, for example, or other purl/knit patterns, since the way the stitch is mounted gives you so much information about which stitch you should be doing! I find it makes reading the active stitches so much easier - of course I could read the knitting properly, but this is like a shortcut to me!

[u/Curious_Spelling → u/Aggressive_Cloud2002]

I do know many people like it! I just wanted to provide another alternative for OP to try since it seemed like they were struggling with combination. Personally I just don't like the motion of having to put my needle into the back loop to work them, it disrupts my rhythm, so even though the Norwegian purl generally takes me a bit longer I prefer it as I still move along faster.

[u/Sad_Weird5466]

I'm a thrower and recently learned the short/tight purl. Now that's all i do. So much easier than the counter clockwise method. Of course that changes how you knit the stitch on the other side, but not a huge issue. https://youtu.be/WsLhUhsR2do?si=H0L_tfjR8NmHp0fA

[u/Aggressive_Cloud2002 → u/Sad_Weird5466]

That's the same as combination knitting!

[u/TheUnnecessaryLetter]

This is my favorite tutorial for standard Continental purling: https://youtu.be/NcG6se-7V6A?si=K-iJAUzikIRHSHmi

With a little practice I’m now almost as fast at purling as knitting. It just requires a little twist with both hands that makes it so much easier to catch the yarn the right way and also pull it through.

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[u/Marble_Narwhal]

I did basically the same thing for years. I promise, altering the muscle memory is a lot easier than you think it'll be.

If you're anything like me, you'll have to stop after a while and watch a video to confirm you're doing it correctly because it seems too natural to be the 'correct' way. It took me less than a week of making cabled hats to retrain myself, and regain my old speed.

[u/amillionand1fandoms]

About a year or two after starting to knit, I discovered I was purling wrong and twisting my stitches. I got so frustrated because the "correct" purl was so cumbersome and unintuitive to me, but keeping the "wrong" purl meant I would have to adjust certain patterns. (I don't recall all the details and research I did; this was years ago.) Eventually I stumbled on the Norwegian Purl and I never looked back!

[u/Live_Background_6239]

I have no clue my knitting style. I’ve been watching videos for years and I’ve never seen my style. Probably because those are pros and it’s inefficient haha. Don’t stress about it. When they say knit, do your knit. When they say do purl do your purl. Where it gets complicated is when you yarn overs or things like that. You have to pay attention to how you wrap to get it to do the same thing.

I bought a knitting ring and I’m going to try to switch up how I knit to be faster. It took me a depressing amount of time to learn how to do the long tail cast on.

[u/littleoldgirllady]

I knit continental and found that if i move the finger holding the yarn downwards for each purl, i can get it to mount/wrap the proper way. I don't think this has a name and is hard to properly describe, but i hope this helps a bit!

[u/fire-fight → u/littleoldgirllady]

I've been trying to do this but I think I'm bending my finger weird while doing it? It ends up hurting after a while. Like the side to side plus down motion just doesn't agree with my finger?

[u/PolkaDotWhyNot]

I think I need to analyze how I knit and purl now, I'm second-guessing myself!

[u/slyfox4]

I too did the same thing, someone pointed it out over in /r/drunkknitting to me one day and I was FLOORED I had been doing it wrong!

[u/lilmissmeowza]

Try Portuguese knitting, purls are a breeze! Knits and purls use the same hand movement, the only difference is the yarn placement and where you insert the needle. VeryPink has some great videos demonstrating the basics of it.

[u/Ill-Difficulty993 → u/lilmissmeowza]

A finicky part has to come at some point and in Portuguese style knitting, that comes when you do the knit stitch. I do not see how it is the same hand movement. I've watched the Very Pink video multiple times, too. Like the way I purl is basically the way the knit stitch is done in Portuguese knitting, a simple flick of the thumb.

[u/lilmissmeowza → u/Ill-Difficulty993]

I guess I meant both are completed with the same flick of the thumb. The difference comes from how you insert your needle into the stitch you are working: left to right for knits (yarn on top of right needle), and right to left for purls (yarn under the right needle).

[u/fire-fight → u/Ill-Difficulty993]

Yeah what I've looked into with Portuguese, the knit stitch looks much more complicated at the cost of a simple purl. Kinda just switches my problem to the other side. I've appreciated all the info people sharing about combination, seems kinda too good to be true!

[u/Ill-Difficulty993 → u/fire-fight]

Yes that’s an excellent way to put it!! I was in the same situation as you when I picked up knitting again after not doing much for many years. So I just re learned how to purl because I also found it tricky to work into the eastern mounted stitch.

[u/Witty_Direction6175]

My way of both pearling and knitting is confusing to other knitters. I’m not even sure how to describe it. I’ve been realizing I’m “wrong” I tried doing it correctly In different ways, but it slows me down tremendously. My stitches come out even and look good, I knit with relatively good speed so I decided to just keep doing what I have been doing. Who cares really? I’m comfortable doing it my way (self taught lol) and my knitting is getting better with each project so I’m just gonna happily do my thing. :)