I am going to show you how to make one purlwise. That would probably have an abbreviation of M1PW, or it might just say it in the instructions what you need to do.
The reason why you would do a make one purlwise is, one, you need to increase your stitches for the pattern, and two, you would increase them in such a way that you are following what the pattern is going to be.
So let’s say one row or section is going to be three purls. Then you will put an extra purl, basically, in that section that it calls for so it can blend nicely.
So let me show you real quick how to do that. It is a little easy, but it has a bit of tension, so some people struggle a little bit with it. But I will show you how to do it.
Let me get in here a couple times.
So let’s say the pattern is going to be calling for a purl three. You’re probably going to start with a purl. Let’s just say you start with a purl. Then what you’re going to do is pick up this bar right here in the middle. You’re going to take your left needle and go through the front of that. I just place it on there. Some people can just reach over and pick it up.
You’re going to pick this up from the front because whenever you do a make one right or make one left, you want the stitch to be somewhat twisted. So it’s a tight stitch when you do this. Otherwise, you’ll create a hole.
So you’re going to put this through the front and pick that up. Then what you’re going to do is—you’ve purled one, so your yarn is already in front. If you knit that one, you would move your yarn to the front. Pick that bar up, and I’ll show you again.
Then you’re going to kind of turn it so your two needles are parallel to each other. You’re going to put that right needle in through that stitch purlwise, but kind of like a twisted stitch through the back. Then you’re going to pull that through and drop it off.
If I move my working yarn to the back, you’ll see it’s a perfect purl right there.
So we’re going to do that again. Get over a couple.
Now I’m going to do it with the yarn in the back because I just knit this. So again, pick up that stitch—or the bar—in the middle. Now you’ve got this little twist. Make sure you put your yarn in front. Twist your stitches. Sometimes you can even give it a little push, and you’ll see it open up right there. Then purl.
It’s simple. It just has a bit of snugness to it.
Sometimes your stitches get so close to the end that they want to come off, but let me show you. I’m going to purl this one, pick it up from the front, and then reach through the back and purl.
Then I’m going to purl the next one. And then, as you can see, now I have three purls. So if I’m just going to purl this row in the pattern, I’ve got it perfectly set up for that. You know, if you have a simple one-by-one brim or whatever it calls for, but the body calls for this, then you have that.
I’m going to do this one more time. Again, pick it up from the front. Twist your needles. Slide it through.
And look, I left it in the back. So you’ll know you’re doing it wrong if you don’t have your yarn straightened. So I’m going to place it in front, and then I’m ready to purl.
And that is how you make one purlwise.
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