question about purling

[nonniemous]

inchainz  and I have been discussing this randomly, and I've been searching for an answer in all my knitting books, but I haven't found one.  So I come here, to the knitting group, fount of all wisdom re: knitting, and I ask:

When purling, if the first leg of the stitch is behind the needle, do you go through that instead, or do you always default to the leg that's in front of the needle?  Seems to me it would make things twist funny.  I know when I knit, I go through the first leg, front or back.  Purling front leg only can also result in a twist, so ...

Yeah, okay.  This is probably a really stupid question.  But it's itching at me!  Anyone have any wisdom to share?

Comments

[ysobel]

Regardless of how the stitch is mounted, you need to go through the right-most leg to get an untwisted stitch. If the front leg is the left leg, and you go through that instead, you'll end up with a twist.

[sedge]

Come in from behind the leading leg of the stitch - so if you're knitting from right to left, and the right leg of the stitch is behind the needle, come in from behind that for purling.

[pennyplainknits]

I can't even clearly visualise what it is that you're talking about (it's late...) but I think going through the back of the stitch would leave it twisted, which you generally don't want.

[clare_dragonfly]

Apparently I am too late to the party to give you any advice or anything, but I wanted to comment anyway and say yay combined knitting :D