The purl stitch is simply a backwards knit stitch. When you make a knit stitch, it leaves you with a purl stitch on the backside, and when you do a purl stitch, it leaves you with a knit stitch on the backside.
So, if you want to make something in a stockinette stitch (all the knit stitches facing one side of the fabric and all the purl stitches facing the other), you will need to knit one row and purl the next. Difficult to explain, but easy to see when you do homework 1 for Level I.
To make a purl stitch, you must first have the yarn in front of the work.
Insert your right needle into the first stitch on the left needle, going into the front of the stitch from bottom right to top left, keeping your right needle tip in front of the left needle.
Wrap the yarn around the right needle in a counter-clockwise motion (this means over the front of the needle toward your right, around the back, and return to the front via the left side of the needle). Get this direction right! So many people find it easier to go around clockwise, but this will leave you with a twisted stitch on the other side -- something you don't want when doing stockinette stitches. There may come a time when you will want a twisted stitch for a particular pattern. But there is a better way to do this, and you want to save that stitch for when you want to do it on purpose.
Hold the yarn snugly, and, with your right needle, scoop the yarn through the stitch and then remove the stitch from the left needle.
Easy for me to say! But here are a couple of videos that may help you. The knitters don't hold their yarn exactly the way I showed you, and they do other things with their fingers. Try what they do, too, until you find something that works for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcarA18QRwM&feature=related
This one is my fave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQTWDz7-1FQ&feature=related
One more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOS8pIEa8iU&feature=related
Here are two in English style: How to Knit - The Purl Stitch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E2i4h4lzsg&feature=channel
I am very comfortable with knitting, Continental style, but I really need to practice purling. I still feel awkward with it and have a challenge keeping the same tension.
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