Knit 'n Purl Stitches on the Machine

One of the first surprises for most machine knitters is the fact that the humble garter stitch is problematic on the knitting machine. Because our needles face in one direction and they form uniform stitches in one direction, we can easily produce stockinette stitch, but knitting every row is a different story!

By default, knitting machines knit stockinette stitch. Stockinette has a smooth side (knit side) and a bumpy side (purl side). In hand-knitting terms, this is knit one row, purl one row.

Hand knitters can easily knit garter stitch by knitting every row. The purl bumps are visible on both sides of the knitting.

As machine knitters, we have to take extra steps to show the purl bumps on the opposite side of our knitting.

There are a number of techniques you can use to get garter stitch texture in your knitting:

• Hand manipulate (re-form) stitches
• Remove live stitches from the machine, turn the work, and rehang the stitches

With a little planning, machine knitters CAN incorporate purl bumps into our knitting.

You may have heard about an accessory called a ribber. A ribber is basically a second needle bed positioned directly opposite the main bed. Because the needles face the opposite direction, both knit and purl stitches can be formed. The LK-150 was never designed with a ribber.