KPSI stands for Knots Per Square Inch. In hand-knotted carpets, this term literally refers to how many knots can be counted in a square inch of carpeting. As a general rule of thumb, rugs with a higher KPSI are better quality than rugs with a lower KPSI. However, to truly use KPSI to your greatest advantage, you must only compare apples to apples. Only comparable rugs (rugs from the same country, city, style, etc.) should be looked at when comparing KPSI, as sometimes a higher knot count is not necessarily the result of a better quality rug, but rather the result of a low quality, thinner wool. Also, some rugs are just always going to coarser than others (geometric vs. floral styles, for example).