page_title: Knitting
section_title: Right- and left-plaited stitches
hierarchical_section_title: Knitting / Structure / Right- and left-plaited stitches
caption_attribution_description: Molly Leonard, my photo, my hat
context_page_description: Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile or fabric; it is used in many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
  Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or in the round. There are usually many active stitches on the knitting needle at one time. Knitted fabric consists of a number of consecutive rows of connected loops that intermesh with the next and previous rows. As each row is formed, each newly created loop is pulled through one or more loops from the prior row and placed on the gaining needle so that the loops from the prior row can be pulled off the other needle without unraveling.
  Differences in yarn, needle size, and stitch type allow for a variety of knitted fabrics with different properties, including color, texture, thickness, heat retention, water resistance, and integrity. A small sample of knitwork is known as a swatch.
context_section_description: Both knit and purl stitches may be twisted: usually once if at all, but sometimes twice and (very rarely) thrice.  When seen from above, the twist can be clockwise (right yarn over left) or counterclockwise (left yarn over right); these are denoted as right- and left-plaited stitches, respectively.  Hand-knitters generally produce right-plaited stitches by knitting or purling through the back loops, i.e., passing the needle through the initial stitch in an unusual way, but wrapping the yarn as usual.  By contrast, the left-plaited stitch is generally formed by hand-knitters by wrapping the yarn in the opposite way, rather than by any change in the needle.  Although they are mirror images in form, right- and left-plaited stitches are functionally equivalent.  Both types of plaited stitches give a subtle but interesting visual texture, and tend to draw the fabric inwards, making it stiffer.  Plaited stitches are a common method for knitting jewelry from fine metal wire.
caption: Illustration of entrelac.  The blue and white wales are parallel to each other, but both are perpendicular to the black and gold wales, resembling basket weaving.
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