Of course, the first knitting stitch you would need to know is the knit stitch. It is the foundation for all the other stitches. You can see this stitch formed by watching another knitter, or an online video of knitting stitches. It isn’t difficult to do – except for the first several times you do it! After that, the hands learn the rhythm of knitting and it gets much easier. You can tell they are knit stitches if they look like a bunch of “V”s stacked up on top of each other. It is made by passing the yarn through from below the stitch before it.

Purling is like knitting in reverse. It is still adding stitches and moving forward on the row, but you are making the stitch into the front of the stitch on the needle instead of the back of it. The result is a different looking stitch than when all the stitches are knit stitches. Purling is usually the second stitch learned by beginning knitters. To look at knitting, a row that is purled looks like a wavy line going across the row. This stitch is made by passing the yarn through from above the stitch before it. Watch someone do it in front of you, or online, to see how it differs from a knit stitch.

What Pattern Is That?

If a fabric is made with only knitting stitches, it will be the stockinette stitch. If only purl stitches are used, it will be called the reverse stockinette stitch. These look similar.

If the knitter alternates between knit and purl stitches in some sort of pattern, the resulting fabric will be a ribbed fabric, with long lines of each type of stitch. This fabric is very stretchy.

If the knitter instead alternates by knitting a row of knit then a row of purl, the fabric will be the garter stitch. It is called that because it is very stretchy – ideal for garters.

If the knitter does a few stitches of knit and a few of purl, they can have a checkerboard result. These are various patterns, but the smallest – one knit, one purl, alternating in both across and the row above and below – is called the seed stitch.

While there are many variations of knitting stitches, the basic building blocks of knitting are knit and purl stitches. Once one knows how to do them, one can do a lot!

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Hundreds of beautiful patterns can designs can be created on cloth with the aid of knitting stitches. These stitches combined with purls can literally create visual effects on cloth. Permutations and combinations in these stitches and purls create fabulous effects on cloth. Purls, stitches and wales combined together, literally create the most interesting patterns and designs ever.

The easiest form of knitting stitches is the stocking stitch. It is used for creating stable fabrics that curl up when one is done with knitting. This type of stitch is usually used in making pullovers, single-colored sweaters, shawls etc.

The striped stocking stitch is a type of stitch whereby a new color can be incorporated in every stitch row. But on a machine, an even number of rows should be knitted before making color changes in the succeeding rows. If a person is hand-knitting, then he/she can create several interesting designs with a ‘striped stock stitch’.

The ‘Fair isle’ patterns of stitches take the process of knitting to an entirely different level. By means of this pattern of stitch, one can incorporate two colors in every row. These stitch patterns can be knitted on machines with patterning devices (electronics, punch cards etc.) or on older models of machine by hand-selection of needles. One can create appealing visual effects of cloth through the Fair Isle stitch.

The ‘tuck stitch’ is a textured pattern that can be created only with the use of a knitting machine. One cannot produce this stitch by means of hand knitting. Either side of the fabric can be used as the right side. This depends on the knitter’s preferences. One can incorporate two or three colors in a fabric with this type of stitch.

The ‘slip stitch’ is a variant of the tuck stitch. It is less textured than the tuck stitch. The slip stitch thus isn’t as appealing as the tuck stitch. One can incorporate one or more colors on a fabric that is knit using this type of stitch.

The ‘knit stitch’, a very common type of stitch is formed by making loops which interweave one another, alternately. When viewed from the knit side of the pattern, the knit stitch will resemble ‘v’ patterns. The ‘purl stitch’, another basic stitch resembles a ‘brick-face’.

The ‘Stockinette stitch’ is one of the most widely used knitting stitches. It consists of alternate rows of knit and purl stitches.

Besides, the aforementioned knitting stitches, there are many and other knitting stitches that add several dimensions to the activity of knitting. In fact, more and more knitting stitches are being incorporated by the day in the world of knitting.

We have beautiful patterns and designs on our sweatshirts, pullovers, shawls, scarves, socks etc, courtesy the enchanting knitting stitches.

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