Home › Knitting abbreviations › p: Purl
p: Purl
Hold the yarn in front. This is one of the building-block stitches. Patterns assume you can work it without thinking, and most other abbreviations are built from it.
How to work p
Hold the yarn in front. Insert the right needle into the front of the next stitch from right to left, wrap the yarn around the right needle, pull the loop through to the back and slide the old stitch off.
Common mistake
Leaving the yarn at the back, which turns the purl into a knit and breaks the fabric pattern.
Effect on your stitch count
It does not change the stitch count by itself.
How it looks in a pattern
A typical line (an invented example for illustration):
Row 3 (RS): K2, p, repeat to end of row.Related abbreviations
All terms are in the knitting abbreviations list, and in the app's Glossary, which works offline.
Frequently asked questions
What does p stand for?
p stands for purl.
Does p change the number of stitches?
It does not change the stitch count by itself.