Knitting basics 2 - learn to purl, illusion knit bag

A few weeks ago, we learned how to cast on, knit, increase and decrease, and bind off. Today, we’ll add to that by learning to purl, and a rather nifty technique called illusion knitting, to make what at first glance looks like a simple striped handbag. Seen from the right angle, however, a row of hearts appears!  We’ll also learn how to read a knitting chart.

You’ll have noticed that a knit stitch looks like a ‘v’ from the front, and a raised bump from the back. Purling forms the stitch facing the other way, so we can control which side of our knitting the ‘v’s and bumps appear (almost all knitting stitches, no matter how fancy, are a combination of knit and purl stitches, so once you’ve mastered these two, the world is your oyster!)

Illusion knitting takes advantage of being able to make lines of raised bumps on the front of the work. We use 2 colours, working a pattern of knit and purl stitches, and viewed head on, it looks like stripes. But viewed from an angle, we don’t see the whole stripe, but only the raised purl bumps – so a hidden image appears.

OK, lets get started! You’ll need:

• Yarn in 2 colours – choose two colours with a strong contrast. One light and one dark colour work best with this technique. You’ll need about a skein of the main colour and half a skein or less of the second colour.
• Knitting needles in a size suitable for your yarn (I used medium-weight acrylic and size 7 needles)
• Tapestry needle for finishing
• (optional) 2 strips of leather, holes punched in the ends, for handles. You could also use fabric, ribbon or webbing, knt or crochet strips, or store-bought handles.
• (optional) Fabric, needle and thread for lining – knit fabric is stretchy, adding a lining gives added strength and a neater look to a knit bag.

Using your background colour, cast on and knit 33 stitches (or a multiple of 11 for a larger or smaller bag – don’t forget you’ll need more yarn for a bigger bag!)

Now we’ll start the chart. If you cast on 33, we’ll be knitting the chart 3 times side by side – i.e. on each row you’ll knit one row of the chart 3 times. To read a knitting chart, we begin in the bottom right corner – this makes sense when you look at your knitting, as you’ll find you are working from the bottom up. So, for row 1, reading right-to-left, we’ll be knitting plain for the first row (and all right-side rows).

On row 2, our knitting changes direction, and so we read the chart in the other direction too, from left to right. You’ll see some ‘p’s on the chart, this means that you need to purl that stitch (see the bottom of this post for a video showing you how). So on row 2, we’ll knit 2, purl 2, knit 3, purl 2, knit 2 – repeat a total of three times.

We need to change colour on row 3. Don’t tie the yarn together - you can just start knitting with colour 2, so long as you leave a tail long enough to weave in with a tapestry needle later. Don’t cut colour 1, we’ll just carry it up the side.

Knit all 35 rows of the chart, changing colour every 2 rows. When you finish the chart, cut colour 1, leaving enough yarn to weave in the end later.

Knit in stockinette until your work is twice as long as you want your bag to be. Stockinette stitch, also called stocking stitch, is made by knitting all the right-side rows, and purling the wrong-side rows.

Finish by knitting plain for 7 rows – this adds a garter-stitch border that will stop the edge curling. Stockinette has a tendency to roll back on itself so usually requires some kind of edging. Bind off.

Fold your knit piece with the right sides together, and using matching yarn whip-stitch up the sides. Weave in loose ends, turn right-side out, and attach your handles. And you’re done!

As promised, here’s a video showing you how to purl, and demonstrating how illusion knitting works. Happy knitting!

You may also like:

1. Knitting basics 1 – Garter stitch earwarmer part 2
2. Knitting basics 1 – cosy garter-stitch earwarmer
3. Berry Pie/Pi beret – free knit hat pattern