Purling awkward?

Question

I am a beginner knitter, and I recently learned how to purl. Pretty sure I'm doing it right, because I come out with a pretty nice stockinette stitch when I alternate knit and purl. Here's my problem. i knit ambidextrously - continental knit right handed with the knit stitch, and then just do the same thing going the other way (which should be purling, because it's the exact opposite, right?)

anyway, the thing is, the purling is 'awkward' feeling, like it's harder to get into the stitches.. am I just knitting too tightly? or am I doing it wrong?

Switching between rows in general feels awkward whether or not I'm knitting and purling both in right, both in left, or ambidextrously.

Help appreciated!

Answer 1

If your stockinette stitch looks right, then you are probably doing it correctly. When I began knitting, the purling did seem much more awkward to me. I think you probably just need practice. It sounds like you may be knitting too tightly. Try using bigger needles for awhile with the same yarn, just to get used to purling. Guage won't matter if you are just doing scarves or afghans. When you feel more comfortable with it, and are ready to do a sweater, guage becomes important.

And if you can knit ambidextrously, you are doing great; I can't get the hang of knittting continental style!

Answer 2

Many knitters find the Continental purl awkward, it isn't just you. I've found that swinging my yarn forward, inserting the needle from left to right and wrapping the yarn counter clockwise works for me, but my Continental style is not exactly, um, pristine. Hold the yarn somewhat below the stitch on the left needle and let the right needle do the work. There are also a couple of excellent videos here: http://www.grumperina.com/videos.htm and some on YouTube as well.

Answer 3

The purl stitch felt awkward to me for a long time. My tension was always tighter when I purled a row. I think what helped me was doing more projects that required a seed stitch. Seed stitches are worked over an uneven number of stitches. K1, P1,K1. Makes a nice texture and good practice.