A Twisted Little Secret

After much debate about whether or not to share this story, I decided that of course I should. Even the best knitter has made mistakes or developed idiosyncrasies along the way that has affected the quality of their work. Part of being a knitter is learning to better accept mistakes, even failures. After acceptance comes learning not to take these things so hard, quickly starting over again and perhaps learning to laugh about it a little along the way. In my case, I was screwing up so badly that I didn't even know I was screwing up!

So here it is: For the first eight years of my knitting life, I purled incorrectly. I went along for quite a bit of time blissfully unaware of what I was doing until the time came to learn Kitchener Stitch, so I could graft shut the toes of my socks. When I looked down at my sock toes and then back up at the example on my computer screen, I knew something was up. I followed all the directions meticulously, except my row of toe stitches looked twisted, rather than a neat, uniform row like all the others that came before it.  Mystified, I became determined to get to the bottom of this issue. Upon closer inspection of the purl stitch diagrams, I noticed the needle was oriented a little differently than mine…

When I first learned the knit and purl stitches, I took the definition of purl a little too seriously. I read, “A purl stitch is just a knit stitch, backwards.” While my technique was right, and my stitches appeared purl-like, I was actually purling through the back loop! Purling through the back loop is a real, albeit rare stitch used to create little twists in fabric or cables. The realization of what I had been doing for all of this time came over me like a tidal wave. The stitches in my flat, Stockinette pieces always had a little bit of a slant that could never be corrected no matter how many tension/gauge tricks I employed. Even the experts at the yarn shop could never figure out what my deal was! I blamed it on my left handedness, on being too high strung, even on the quality of my needles… In the end it turned out to only be a hazard that comes from being self-taught, (and maybe a little overconfident.) I never had a grandmother or an aunt over my shoulder to say, “Wait, stop,” and re-position the needles in my hands before I moved on. 

Purling through the back loop.

With my head swimming from this realization, I quickly picked up my needles and churned out a gauge swatch with my purl stitches done the “right way,” and at last saw the perfect, uniform rows that I had always longed for. It felt like the sun was rising over my soul! The last road block that had been preventing me from tackling more serious flat-knit/sweater projects had been lifted.

Nice, uniform Stockinette rows.

While my cheeks still feel warm when I talk about it, it’s not something that I should dwell over too much. In the end, it didn't severely hinder my progress. It didn't affect any of my circular or cable projects. When it was time to become a more serious knitter, I noticed something was up, and pushed forward. In fact, I am positive that there are countless beginning/intermediate knitters out there doing the exact same thing right now!

True advancement comes after facing confusion, challenges and mistakes head on. It is also where true learning takes place. Just when we feel the most stuck and confused, we come out stronger on the other side.

And that is the story of my biggest knitting LoL moment…so far!