Day 12: Cowl Part 3 – Purl Ridge Stitch

Hi, everyone, welcome back to our 14-day "Learn to Knit" series here at The Knitting Circle. My name is Jen Lucas, and in this video we're gonna work the second section of our cowl, which uses the purl ridge stitch pattern. This stitch pattern is mostly just knit stitches, but we will be doing some purling on the wrong side of our cowl, so you'll get great practice at that purl stitch. In addition to showing you how to do the purl ridge stitch pattern, I also wanna show you how to add in a new ball of yarn into your project. Because we need two skeins of yarn to complete this cowl, at some point along the way you're gonna have to add in that second ball, so I wanna make sure that you know how to do that. So let's go ahead and take a look at the purl ridge stitch and how to add a new ball of yarn to your knitting project. Once you have your garter stitch section of your cowl worked, we're ready to start working this next part here. This stitch pattern here is called the purl ridge stitch. And so we're gonna be working a little bit of stockinette, which means we'll be doing some knitting on the right side and purling on the wrong side, but then we're gonna add this ridge by then knitting two rows so we will have a row of knits on the wrong side to create this stitch pattern. I really love this stitch pattern. It's great for just about any kind of project. I think it looks really great in this cowl. So let's go ahead first and take a look at our actual pattern. So here I have our pattern. And we're going to be looking at part three here, the purl ridge stitch. And so let's just review the instructions so we make sure that we know what we're doing. And that's actually a great tip when you're working any kind of project, and especially as you start moving into more complicated projects on your knitting adventures, is it's really great to sort of read the pattern before you start knitting. When you start getting into sweater knitting or other complicated projects, sometimes you'll get instructions where it'll say, "At the same time," or you need to be following a chart and the instructions at the same time. So it's really great that we are gonna just review our pattern before we start on our knitting. So here we are on part three. So row 39, I'm gonna go ahead and pull out our abbreviations here too. So row 39, we're gonna be on a right side row. We're gonna knit all the stitches. We've already been practicing that. That will be easy. Row 40, wrong side. WS, wrong side. K2, p23, k2. So the k is knit, and the p is purl. So we're gonna be knitting 2, purling 23 stitches, and knitting 2. So those two rows together will start to create that stockinette stitch. Row 41, knit all the stitches. And row 42, knit all the stitches. And again, sts here, we have stitches. And so we're then going to be repeating those four rows. And so you can see here, we have rows 43 to 70. Rep, which is repeat, rows 39 to 42 seven times. And so we'll just be then repeating this seven times. And so like I said before in the last video, if you want a row counter to keep track, you can purchase those online, at any big box craft store, or at your local yarn store. You can also just use a pen and paper. But I'll also show you as we're working along how to read your knitting so that if you forget to use your row counter or make a check mark on your piece of paper, I'll show you how to tell when you're gonna be done with the section. I'm also gonna go over how to add a new ball of yarn because at some point along the way in this cowl, you're gonna have to add a new ball of yarn. I can't tell you exactly when that's gonna be because it really depends on how tight or loose you are knitting. But I wanna go ahead and show you how to do that so when you do get to that point where you need to add that new ball of yarn, you know what to do and you're ready to go. So let's go ahead and start working this. So again, you'll have your cowl, which will have the 27 stitches on it. I just have this little swatch here. And so I have my garter stitch, and now we're gonna start that purl ridge stitch. So we're on the right side because we've marked our right side with our stitch marker. And you can also, if you like, with each section move this up so then if you're using it to also keep track of your progress. Or for some people, it's easier. You know that this was the very end of your garter stitch, and now we're starting the next section. So that's what's great about these coil-less stitch markers is that you can move them so easily. So let's go ahead and move this up here, but still on the right side. We know we're on the right side. So row 39 is knit all the stitches. So we're just gonna go ahead and work across here, continuing to knit all the stitches. So this first row isn't any different than what we had been already doing. It's the next row where we're gonna start doing something just a little bit different and start practicing that purl stitch. So we're knitting all our stitches. And again, you're holding your yarn in whatever hand is comfortable for you. Then we're gonna flip it over. Get that needle into our left hand. Have our free needle in our right. Now, the next row, row 40, wrong side row, we're gonna knit 2, purl 23, knit 2. So basically we're gonna be knitting two stitches and then purling all the stitches until we have two stitches left. Knit those last two stitches. So we're gonna start by knitting two. We're very familiar with the knit stitch at this point. Now we need to purl. So to purl, we have the yarn in the back because we've been knitting. We're gonna bring it in between the needles. Don't bring it over the needle. We're not trying to create a yarn over. We have the yarn in the back. We're going in between the needles to the front. Now we're ready to do that purl stitch. So to purl, we insert the needle with the yarn in the front from right to left. We're wrapping that yarn around. We're pulling the needle under the left needle and through the loop to create that new stitch and off. And again, if you've decided that you are going to be a continental knitter and purl and knit with the yarn in your left hand, you can always go back and review those videos from earlier in the week if you can't remember exactly how to hold the yarn in your left hand. So we're just gonna purl until you have two stitches left. So on your cowl, that will be, you'll be purling 23 stitches. Here I have less 'cause I have a little swatch. But you're purling till you have two left. Now we need to knit the last two stitches. We're just gonna bring the yarn. It's in the front. We need the yarn in the back to knit, so we're gonna bring the yarn from the front to the back, going in between the needles, and then we're gonna knit the last two stitches just like that. So row 40's done, and you can see already that our fabric is starting to look different here. You can see you're getting those Vs that look like stockinette stitch from the right side. So row 41 and row 42 are easy 'cause, again, we're just practicing those knit stitches, so you'll just be knitting those two rows. But for this cowl, I thought for a first project, it would be really great to get at least a little bit of the purling in there. As I said in the purl video earlier in the series, for some people, purling is a little bit trickier. It was, I know, for me definitely. So it's important to practice it in order to master it. I think that's why so many knitters just love the garter stitch because you don't have to do any purls. So anyway, now we have done our row 41, which was a right side. Row 42 is knit all the stitches. And so now we're creating that purl ridge or garter ridge that's gonna show up here on the right side. So we're just gonna knit all the way across. So really for this section, you're repeating those four rows, but three of them are knitting, and one of them has those purls in there. Okay, so there we go. And then if we flip it over, you can see here now we've created that ridge. And so you would just keep repeating those four rows. And we'll take a look at the actual cowl in a minute. But I wanna take a look at what happens when you need to change your ball of yarn. So let's say you're coming to the end, I'm just gonna snip this here, and you're running out of yarn. What do you do? So here I have a new ball of yarn, and we're gonna go ahead and attach it. And really it's just as simple as starting to knit with the new ball of yarn. That's all you need to do. So I like to do this at the beginning of a row, and the reason being is that depending, again, as you move along in your knitting journey, sometimes if you're doing something more complicated, like lace or cables, and you change your yarn in the middle of the row, and if you had, depending on the type of yarn, how tight or loose your knitting, you can kind of see it a little bit where you've changed the ball of yarn. I mean, you can weave in the ends carefully, but sometimes that can be difficult if you have a very lacy pattern, for example. So I like to, whenever I can, just start my new ball of yarn at the start of a row. So here you wanna just make sure that as you're knitting you're gonna have enough left to weave in at the end. So if you're unsure if you can sort of make it across a row, my suggestion would be if you already have your new ball of yarn, you know you have more than enough yarn, just start... Just attach your new ball at the start of a row. If you have an extra-long tail here, you can just snip it to weave it in. Don't play yarn chicken. Okay, so here I have my new ball of yarn. So you're just gonna start working this next row. What I like to do is just insert my needle. This first stitch was gonna be a knit anyway. Get my new yarn. Leave a tail 'cause we're gonna have to weave it in. And then I just kinda loop it around like this, just like this, and stick it on there to create my knit stitch. Bring it through. And now I've knit with the new ball of yarn. So let me show you that again. So let's get a little untangled here. So here's from my new ball of yarn. Just gonna leave that six to eight-inch tail. I just kinda hold it over my finger like this, make a loop. Stick it on. I insert this needle as if I'm gonna knit 'cause that's my first stitch. I have my little loop here. I just stick it on. Now I pull it through to create that knit stitch. And this is gonna be a little bit loose because you have this old yarn that's now not attached to anything. You've got the new yarn starting. So this first stitch here will be a little bit loose when you start working with the new ball, so let's go ahead. Now, we're making sure that we have our new ball of yarn here. We're not accidentally knitting with the tail. So now this is where I'm starting to repeat rows 39 to 42 again. So this is row 39, so we're just knitting all the stitches. And then we'll be working row 40 again where on your cowl, you'll be doing knit 2, purl 23, knit 2. So basically knit two, purl to the last two stitches, knit two. So we're gonna knit two. Bring the yarn to the front and purl. And then we'll knit those last two stitches. Here we go. All right, we have two stitches left. We've brought the yarn from the front to the back. Gonna knit one, knit two. And so you can see this stitch does seem like it's a little bit more loose than the others, but then I just give it... I just give all these tails a little tug, and now it's attached. If you want... Most people don't like to make knots in their knitting. If you want, you could tie just sort of something loose here if you're worried that it's gonna come undone. It won't, but if you're worried, you could tie just sort of a loose little knot here. But then we go to weave in our ends later, I would take that knot out to weave in the end. But if that makes you feel a little more secure as you're attaching your new ball of yarn, you can go ahead and do that. And so then you're just gonna keep working your pattern. So if you just quickly bring in our cowl here, let's take a look at this. So our instructions say we worked rows 39 to 42, and then we're repeating rows 39 to 42 seven more times. And so that means that we're going to be creating a total of eight purl ridges 'cause we did the first section, and then we're, the first four rows, and then then we're repeating that seven more times. So here's our first one here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So the eighth one here on my cowl is running right up against the next section of our cowl. So again, if you're not using anything to sort of mark your progress, you can also just count your ridges as you're going, and you know once you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, you know that you're done with this section. So that's it, so now your purl ridge will be done, and we'll be ready to move on to the garter stitch and eyelets. Isn't that a fun stitch pattern? It really is one of my favorites, and that's why I had to include it in this cowl pattern because it's a great beginner-friendly stitch pattern, but it's also really fun to knit. Thanks so much for joining me. I really hope that you're having fun knitting your cowl and that you'll join me back here tomorrow to work the next section. I'll see you again soon.