To learn to purl you will need a row of stitches on your needle. If you would like a quick reminder of how to do this check out my “Back to basics: Casting On” post and if you are after a rhyme to help you remember the steps the purling rhyme below might help.

Okay – ready to start?

1. Hold your needle with your cast on stitches in your left hand and the empty pin in your right. Keeping the yarn in front of your work, push the tip of your right hand needle from right to left into the front of the first stitch. For those of you using a rhyme this the  “Yarn to the front to purl away, your needle goes in from the back today“.

2.  Wrap the yarn over and around the tip of your right needle – this is the “wrap your wool around to make a ring” section of the rhyme.

3. Here comes the tricky bit – push / tickle the yarn through the stitch on the left needle with the tip of your right needle. This is the “push the loop back through” part of the rhyme.

4. Almost there! As your right hand needle slides into your purl stitch, your old stitch on will start to pull up and drop / slip off your left needle. This action is the “catch with your pin” last part of the rhyme. You now have a purl stitch on your right hand needle!

Repeat the steps above until you have purled all your stitches onto your right hand needle. As a reminder – here’s that sequence again. Did you use a rhyme to help?

If you need a reminder of how to cast off check out my “Back to Basics: Casting Off” post.