Knitting Backwards? I had never heard of such a thing! Our resident knitting guru Allison told me about this technique while I was working on my Entrelac Shawl. Entrelac consists of knitting across a few stitches (8, in my case) and then turning the work over and purling across those stitches again (there's a little bit of magic done also, but this is the basic idea). As you're doing this, you'll notice that you're constantly flipping your work over. You're on the right side (RS) for 8 stitches, then on the wrong side (WS) for 8 stitches. This turning can get kinda tiring, especially as the work grows in length and weight. Given that, an alternative to flipping your work to the purl side is to Knit Backwards! So, how do we do this? The key is to think in reverse: Instead of working from the right to the left, you'll work from the left to the right Instead of inserting the needle from the right to the left, you'll insert it from the left to the right. Instead of knitting the stitches off the left needle onto the right needle, you will be knitting from the right needle onto the left needle!
 | Step 1: In the pictures below, I've just finished knitting the purple section (the section that my right hand is touching) and now need to turn it around and purl it. Instead of purling, though, I'm going to knit it backwards. |
 | Step 2: Insert the left needle into the end stitch on the right needle. Notice that I am coming from the left hand side of the stitch. |
 | Step 3: Throw your yarn over the left needle, in a counterclockwise fashion. |
 | Step 4: Pull that yarn back through the end stitch as usual. |
 | Step 5: Slip the newly created stitch off of the right needle, onto the left needle! You have just knitted a stitch backwards! |
 | Step 6: I'm repeating Step 2 here on the last of my 8 purple stitches. |
Posted by Jimmy (Laura) of Jimmy Beans Wool |
