One of the really good things about hand knitting is it's simplicity
beautiful fabric can be made using just
three simple stitches,
and that is all there is to it.
All the fancy, decorative and complex patterns known to knitters
are made by working knit, purl
or slip stitches either singly or in combinations
THE KNIT STITCH
The knitted loop can only be called a stitch when it becomes joined to
and en-meshed with other sts.
The knit st has a smooth flat surface
on the working face.
THE PURL STITCH
The purl stitch
has a more rugged textured surface on the working face.
THE SLIP STITCH
The slip stitch, sometimes called miss stitch or skip stitch
is a stitch that is passed from one needle to the other without being worked.
Depending on the fabric required, the yarn floats either across the front
or the back of the slipped st.
On plain fabrics the knitted-stitch courses have
the working yarn floating across the back of the slipped stitch.
On the purl courses the yarn floats across the working face.
The float can used as a decorative element of the fabric.
Using these three stitches in a variety of ways
- knitting or purling into the same stitch twice, knitting two sts together,
passing the slip stitch over a knit stitch -
for example,
many hundreds of different stitch patterns can be made.
Click on 'next page' for fabric structures
