Can I unravel part of a row?

[chixdilla]

Total newbie needs help! I'm working on a basket weave stitch, and the next row I was supposed to be doing was an all-knit stitch (to separate in between each set of knit/purl rows), but I accidentally started purling instead. After doing 3 purls, I started to try and go backwards, but I got stuck and now I don't know what I'm doing. Can I just unravel those other 2 purls without ruining my knitting? What should I do?!

[suzeeq]

Put that first st on the L needle back on the R needle. Then stick the L needle into the stitch below it (the purl bump), and do the same with the other sts.

[salmonmac]

You can undo the 2 purls by holding the needle that has them on it in your right hand and un-kniting the sts. Place the left needle into the purl loop right below the st on the right needle and gently pull on the working yarn. You're putting the stitch back onto the left needle and undoing the mistake. Then do that again for the second purl mistake. There's a video for fixing mistakes on the Free Videos tab under Tips at the top of the page that may also help.

[suzeeq]

She needs to put that one st back on the R needle first. She just slipped it to the L needle without undoing it.

[chixdilla]

I did undo that one stitch that's sitting on the left needle in the picture. Right now it's just a loop.

[suzeeq]

That's good, then the loop is on the L needle. Just gently slide back the R needle and pull the yarn from those sts and put them on the L needle. They won't drop unless you stretch them out.

[chixdilla]

Awesome, thanks! I figured it out!