🧶 A knitting stitch 🧶 To knit purl

purl stitch

8.2

A way of making a loop in knitting that makes a bumpy texture

noun
/pɜrl stɪtʃ/

Specialized

: punto de revés

To create a beautiful scarf, she incorporated the purl stitch along with other techniques.

Examples

Many beginners find the purl stitch challenging, but it is essential for creating textured patterns in knitting.
But first, one has to master the simple knit and purl stitches by learning how to understand how to gauge the tension between the needles, the yarn, and your fingers.

Blog text (29)
During the knitting class, everyone practiced the purl stitch to improve their skills.

Synonyms

purl

vspurl stitch

Specialized

1 9.1

A bumpy stitch in knitting made by moving the yarn in front of the needle

is the same in meaning but uses the fuller two-word phrase including stitch

How Textured

cabling

Jargon

5.4

buttonhole stitch

Specialized

7.2

purl stitch

Specialized

8.2

garter stitch

Jargon

1 8.0

stockinette stitch

Specialized

7.2

Surface Forms

purl stitch singular

purl stitches plural

Morphology

purl + stitch

The meaning 'to knit using the purl stitch' is directly compositional: 'purl' denotes the specific knitting action and 'stitch' the knitted loop, so together they describe the stitch produced by purling. This is a regular, non-idiomatic formation that a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer.

Etymology

Purl stitch The noun purl stitch may come from the small bumps the stitch makes on the fabric, which look like tiny 'pearls', so the words purl and stitch point to this raised, textured knit.