By explain, I simply mean "describe in words". I think it's a Good Thing when you understand what you're doing on more than just one level. :)
When you execute a knit stitch, one way to think of it is that you are inserting your right needle into the front leg of the stitch from left to right. (If you look very carefully at the stitches as they sit on the needle, you will see that it's not completely even, that the leg in front of the needle sits just a little closer to the end and to the right of the back leg of the stitch). Then you wrap the yarn around the right needle counter-clockwise (if you turn the tip of the right needle towards you as you wrap the yarn), or from front to back (if you're looking at it as you're knitting). You pull that loop through to the front, and when you drop the stitch off of the left needle, you can see that the top of the stitch drops to the back of the work. What you see below your needles should look kind of like a "V".
To purl a stitch, instead of inserting your right needle from left to right, it goes into the stitch from right to left. This leaves the right needle sitting in front of the work, so it is necessary to bring the yarn to the front of the work before you begin to purl. (If you try to do this after you've inserted the right needle into the stitch, you will find that it is very difficult to wrap the yarn properly around the right needle, as it prefers to start out underneath the needle). The yarn goes around the needle in the same way - counter-clockwise if you turn that needle towards you, or from front to back - but because you've inserted the right needle into the stitch from the opposite direction, you will find that the loops are being thrown to the front of the work, rather than the back.
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When you execute a knit stitch, one way to think of it is that you are inserting your right needle into the front leg of the stitch from left to right. (If you look very carefully at the stitches as they sit on the needle, you will see that it's not completely even, that the leg in front of the needle sits just a little closer to the end and to the right of the back leg of the stitch). Then you wrap the yarn around the right needle counter-clockwise (if you turn the tip of the right needle towards you as you wrap the yarn), or from front to back (if you're looking at it as you're knitting). You pull that loop through to the front, and when you drop the stitch off of the left needle, you can see that the top of the stitch drops to the back of the work. What you see below your needles should look kind of like a "V".
To purl a stitch, instead of inserting your right needle from left to right, it goes into the stitch from right to left. This leaves the right needle sitting in front of the work, so it is necessary to bring the yarn to the front of the work before you begin to purl. (If you try to do this after you've inserted the right needle into the stitch, you will find that it is very difficult to wrap the yarn properly around the right needle, as it prefers to start out underneath the needle). The yarn goes around the needle in the same way - counter-clockwise if you turn that needle towards you, or from front to back - but because you've inserted the right needle into the stitch from the opposite direction, you will find that the loops are being thrown to the front of the work, rather than the back.
Tell me when you understand that.