Making a twisted knit stitch is easy – we simply knit a stitch through the back loop and get a lovely “crossed V” without much effort. Making a twisted purl stitch is an entirely different story. We need to twist our wrist to perform, arguably, the clumsiest knitting move known as purling through the back loop.
Fortunately, we can avoid the awkward purl-through-the-back-loop manoeuvre when we add twisted purls to a project worked in the round. That means that we can easily decorate our socks, hats, and seamless sweaters with any stitch pattern formed by twisted stitches – from a humble twisted ribbing to the gorgeous designs that we often see in Japanese and German collections of stitches.
Here’s how we do it step by step.
Keep in mind though that the purls formed by this method will twist in a different direction than the purls formed by the classic way of making twisted purls. This difference will show if you switch from knitting in the round to knitting back and forth within the same project.
Another thing to remember is that this method does not work for projects worked flat. To add twisted purls to scarves and blankets, we still need to use the classic purl-through-the-back-loop move. But when we want to use a pattern with twisted stitches on a seamless project, simplified twisted purling is a much easier and faster alternative.
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If you enjoyed this tutorial,
here’s something else you might find helpful:
“Neat Side Edges” Book
Learn twelve ways to make side edges of a knitted project nice and tidy. Plus, ways to fix side edges, and a way to improve edges of finished projects.
Happy knitting!
