Reverse Stockinette Stitch: How to Do It Step by Step

Reverse Stockinette Stitch is a knitting stitch that makes bumpy purl side used as the right side; background for cables. Makers reach for it for cable backgrounds, textured panels, rolled edges. It is rated beginner here, so it is a good stitch to learn early and practice on a small swatch before a real project.

1. Cast on any number of stitches. 2. Working flat: purl all stitches on right-side rows. 3. Knit all stitches on wrong-side rows. 4. Working in the round: purl every round. Work slowly for the first few repeats, keep your tension even, and check the result against the steps before continuing across a whole row or motif.

US patterns abbreviate reverse stockinette stitch as rev St st. UK patterns write it as rev st st, so always check whether a pattern uses US or UK terms before you start, because the same abbreviation can mean a different stitch. Pattern keys list every abbreviation used, usually near the materials list.

The most common problems are: mixing up right and wrong sides; using it for edges that must lie flat, since it curls. Most are easy to spot if you pause after a few repeats and compare your work with the steps. Good light helps a great deal, especially with dark yarn or thread.

Stitches closely related to reverse stockinette stitch include Stockinette Stitch, 6-Stitch Cable. Learning them together makes patterns easier to read, because many designs switch between related stitches to change texture, height or line. Each has its own step-by-step page in the stitch dictionary.