stockinette question from a newbie

[caviar]

Hey, thanks to all of you who have posted in the past, and to the administrator for putting together such a great page for new knitters. A friend and I kind of got into knitting separately a month ago and then started comparing notes. Yesterday she came over and we fumbled our way through some stockinette stitch and ran into a major problem. When our kids needed a little attention and we put down our knitting, we didn't know whether to start a new row with knits or purls when we picked it back up. Duh! :? We searched SnB cover to cover for an easy solution, but couldn't find it. Is there any easy way to tell where you are without counting the previous 96 rows or whatever? Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry if this is a frequently-asked question. (I didn't see it in recent posts.)

Kirstin

[amy]

That's a great question! I've just filmed a video to answer it, but it will be a couple of days before it's up.

In the mean time,
The stitches you're supposed to knit look like V's. The stitches you're supposed to purl look like dashes. You can watch the video on doing ribbing (Basic Techniques/More page), which talks about how to recognize a purl and knit stitch.

Amy

[caviar]

I can use that for ribbing, and I think I get what you're saying for stockinette. When I pick up the work in my left hand, I'll be able to tell by whether the "v"s or bumps are facing me? So do I knit the "v"s or bumps? I'm guessing...knit the knits???

Thanks so much for your quick reply! And thanks again for your website.

Kirstin

[amy]

To get stockinette, you knit the v's, and purl the bumps. It will be a whole row of v's, then a whole row of bumps, alternating.
You're welcome, Kirstin! It's my pleasure!
Amy