Knitting Secret No One Told Me

Ok so while working on an order, A ribbed beanie (knit), I was getting frustrated that it wasn't looking or reacting how it was supposed to when I tested the stretch of the rib.  And it dawned on me I was doing it wrong the whole time!!  Since I started knitting in time!  So here are some pictures to explain it, something that maybe you didn't know, or are a beginner and need to know before you make the same mistake.  I hope I explain it well enough...

Do you see the loop on the needle?  How the angle makes it look like a perfect n? Or maybe a horseshoe upside down?  Well the back of the loop is the one we want the needle to go into.

 Here it is from the front, see how it was the back on the purl side but now the front on the knit side and my right needle is inserted through it, but to the back of the left needle?  That's what we want for the knit stitch.

 Because when I wrap the yarn around the back needle and pull it through it will make the knit stitch.

 Here I am showing the stitch opened up, (what it should look like)

 Ok now on STRAIGHT needles on the front side/knit side, the stitches on the needle should all slant to the right

 And on the wrong side/purl side the stitches slant to the left

 Now we are knitting the purl side. So the opening we want to put our needle through is the back like in the first picture.

 BUT what I thought before that both knit and purl the needle needed to be put in the front of the stitch and the yarn pulled through the back for knit and through the front for purl...

 But as you can see here, that twists the stitches when you insert the right needle in the front on a purl stitch on straight needles.

 So we need to insert it in the back.

 And now the stitches are all straight and even!!

 But wait what if we were ribbing??  No sweat!  the first two stitches the right needle goes into the back of the stitch AND left needle to bring the yarn through the back for a knit stitch, then the next two stitches the right needle will go in the Front of the stitch but back of the left needle and bring the yarn through the front for a knit stitch

Let me know if this makes sense.  If not Let me know which part confuses you and I'll try to explain it better.