Knit the Knits, Purl the Purls

Perhaps you have come across this phrase in your knitting, maybe not.  These instructions used to confuse me to no end. The first time I saw this was in a cable stitch pattern.  It was the first time I was attempting a cable, which can be daunting enough for a new knitter.  This was before I had discovered the wealth of information available on the internet, so although unsure of what I was supposed to do, I forged ahead in the manner I thought was correct.  I thought I was supposed to knit the stitches that had been knit on the previous row, and purl the stitches I had purled.

The first attempt was not good; I ended up with an ugly, lumpy thing on my fabric that did not look anything like the beautiful, winding cable in the picture.  I decided to try again.  I had not yet learned to recognize how each stitch looks, so I copied down the previous row on a piece of paper so I could mark off each stitch as I came to it, to make sure I got it right this time, and started again.  Of course, I got another lumpy mess of yarn instead of cable.  I was beginning to get frustrated at this point, and after a couple more attempts, I just gave up.  It didn't dawn on me to do anything different; I just thought I somehow kept making a mistake with only one stitch, which was causing errors in the rest of the row.  Having nobody to ask for clarification, I avoided all stitches and patterns that contained this phrase for a long time.

I can't remember what made the light bulb go off in my head, but one day it just hit me.  And now I understand what it means when the pattern says to knit the knits and purl the purls, or work each stitch as it appears.  So, if you also are confused by this, here is a video and picture that will hopefully help the light bulb go off for you.

If you are to knit the knits and purl the purls in this row, the stitches that are marked with blue arrows would be purled, and the stitches marked with red arrows would be knit.