Reverse Stocking Stitch is the stitch which appears when you turn stocking stitch over to the side which shows the bumps forming the purl stitches. It is usually considered to be the wrong side of the knitting when you work a pattern which is mainly stocking stitch, but using the purl side of stocking stitch as the right side of the work can be very effective in hand and machine knitting.

Boucle and fancy yarns often look better from the purl side than they do from the knit side of the stocking stitch fabric, and it is worth thinking about using the purl side of a garment knitted in such a yarn as the right side of the garment instead of the knit side. You do have to be careful to ensure that seams and ends are finished off on the knit side of the fabric if you want to use the purl side as the right side, but if you're using a simple stocking stitch pattern with standard style borders this should be fairly easy to do. Remember if you're making stocking stitch hems with an extra knit row for turning the bottom edge of the hem that you will need to make the knit side of the hem the right side, then switch to the reverse stocking stitch by working the first row in purl, second row in knit and so on instead of knit 1 row, purl 1 row as is standard in stocking stitch.

Another way to use Reverse Stocking Stitch is to knit the garment in an absolutely plain pattern in a smooth yarn, and to create patterns within the knit stitches using reverse stocking stitch. A stripe of 10 rows of reverse stocking stitch can be very effective just above the cuffs and hem, or you could divide the garment or item section into quarters and knit each section alternating knit and purl.

Have some fun with this variant of Stocking Stitch as I'm sure you can think of many more ways of using it to create texture and pattern within a garment than I have suggested above! For a challenge, how about some reverse stocking stitch socks for those who complain that the stitch bumps of hand knitted socks mark their feet? One side of a bag could be made in reverse stocking stitch and the other in stocking stitch with the knit side as the outside. Or how about a scarf with large knit and purl checks alternating up its length? There are so many possibilities!