Things Just Got A LOT Easier

How long have I been knitting? Since maybe July? I got serious around what, January? And last night, while perusing my new books (Stitch n' Bitch Nation and Weekend Knitting, both of which I love ardently,) I realized something when glancing through the diagrams.

I've been purling wrong.

Did you get that? I've been PURLING WRONG. How many times do you purl in a piece of knitwork??!! Mind you, I've been purling correctly enough to not make much difference in the completed work - stockinette still looks like stockinette, rib still looks like rib - but suddenly I understand why everything takes me so long and why I despise knitting after a purl stitch or, even worse, k2tog or (God forbid), k2tog tbl after purls. Instead of taking the yarn to front and pulling over and behind the needle, I've been pulling it straight up between and behind the needle. Stitch orientation, my dears. Stitch orientation.

And when I discovered this, and I tried purling correctly and moved on to my *k/yo/k2tog* pattern on the second row? It was truly as if a heavenly light shone down on me and a chorus of "Hallelujah"s erupted around me. Warmth and joy. Seriously. That's how I would have written it in my knitting sitcom (sure to be a hit). Do you have any idea how much faster I can knit now? I feel like Speedy Gonpurles.

Okay, I have to go finish that wrap. This will no doubt only take me about nine minutes now that I've gotten the hang of the purl stitch - which only took me nine months!

(And if you're surprised how unabashedly and joyfully I share the tales of my stupidity boneheaded inability to understand a simple diagram revelation, well, you don't know me very well.)