Little Purls

I hear a lot of knitters going on about how they don't enjoy purling. Why not? I've never quite understood the reasoning behind the lack of purl love. Even from my earliest days of knitting I found that purls weren't that bad. I actually purl faster than I knit. Go figure. I did also notice one day that my purls were a little looser than my knits, however, that was immediately fixed by pulling a tad harder on the yarn during purl rows. Easy fix once noted. So, why are purls so bad? The Polyphonic hat I recently finished for the Musical Minds Collection features mostly purls on the right side of the work (and it's knit in the round, so this means you're doing a whole lot of purling). Is that a turn off? I liked the way it looked with the purl side showing and the man (whose opinion I'm taking in high regard for this project) also preferred the purl over the knit side because of the way the zig zags "sunk" into the hat. I'm not going to shy away from designing something that I like the look of due to knowing purls are less loved, but I'm curious, what do you think of purling? and why? Sometimes I feel like people will just jump on the popular bandwagon and if one person likes to complain about x-thing than hordes of people feel camaraderie if they also commiserate about x-thing. Just a thought.

Tags: purling

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Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 27, 2010 at 5:31am: After about 6 rows, I just do it by sight. :o)

Comment by Erica Jackofsky on May 27, 2010 at 5:22am: That's not to say I wouldn't use an uneven ribbing, though. Just that I'd have to be on the ball ;o)

Comment by Erica Jackofsky on May 27, 2010 at 5:22am: Susan, My "problem" with uneven ribbing like that is that I tend to space out and my brain automatically sings even rhythm to me and the next time I like down my ribbing is a disaster! lol

Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 27, 2010 at 5:20am: Erica, I did some 3 x 1 recently, and liked that too. ♥s

Comment by Erica Jackofsky on May 27, 2010 at 4:54am: Susan, I'm also working on all knit projects right now (stockinette in the round). I desperately want to cast on something else! But I'm trying to be good....

Cheryl, The hat I mentioned probably could be knit inside out. You'd just have to switch the knits and the purls. It could be worn that way too if it was your preference.

Amy, So.... we get to see pictures when the sweater is done, right? ;-) Ribbing is another thing I really like, as long as it's even (1x1, 2x2, etc) I find that it falls into a rhythm and can go pretty quick.

Comment by Amy Green on May 26, 2010 at 9:45pm: I'm ok with purling, though I knit faster than I purl. Although after doing the 11 inches of ribbing on the Maggie Grey, I feel like I've gain so speed! I don't understand why some people are so adverse to it though :)

Comment by cherylbwaters on May 26, 2010 at 2:18pm: For those who abhor purling, could it be knit inside out? Just a question, don't know how that will effect the pattern. Knitters don't need to love every pattern you do. You have to offer patterns for all kinds of knitters so I would go with the purling if that is the effect you like.

Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on May 26, 2010 at 9:19am: Erica,
I used to dread purling too... pretty silly, huh? Well, no more. I've recently completed several projects where purling really made the finished item. I've fallen in love with seed stitch - which could not be done without purling. The little endented areas along some lace that I recently knitting, made the beautiful designs standout even better. And where would we be without ribbing... gotta have purls for that too.

In fact I'm working on a project now that is ALL knitted. It looks lovely, but after 35 rows, it is getting a bit boring! ♥s