Knitting Backwards, Continental
All the turning the work in Ruffles got me thinking that I needed to learn a new technique that would save me a little bit of knitting effort: Knitting Backwards. I figured this would make my life a little easier when dealing with relatively short stretches of short row knitting. Finding information about how to do this sent me into the way back machine of my old VKs in search of an article I remembered. I struck pay dirt in the Winter 2002 edition (the one with the Koigu Chullo on the cover). Here's a little pictoral summary, so that when I need to remember how to do it again in 6 months, I'll have my own personal reference. The nice photographs were kindly taken by my very lovely husband.
Repeat as necessary until all the stitches are on the left hand needle and you can knit forwards again.
This technique doesn't work out to be as fast as if I was purling across since I have to throw the yarn with my left hand. However, when the time it takes to turn the work and re-wrap the yarn around my fingers is taken into consideration, this does turn out to be faster for me. If I was traversing more stitches, it would probably be a wash, but this works quite well for short stretches of knitting.
Now I have to get back to my bad computer gaming habit... I just bought Civilization III: Conquests tonight. Time to see the new civs and to watch the game inflict natural disasters on my creations!
It's like you read my mind, I was just fidling around with knitting backward today to try and figure it out. Your pictures are very helpful.
wonderful tutorial. great clear pics, easy to understand text. i'm definitely bookmarking this post for future ref. i have a few techniques that i finally wanted to try out this weekend and this was one of them. thanks!
Knitting backwards? I can barely knit forward! ;-) I'm in awe.
Wavelength city, baybee. I was just wondering where I could find some good pics of this technique! Thanks for posting.
I figured this out to do bobbles a few months ago, but always manage to wrap the needle in the wrong direction, so my stitches are backward for the next pass . . . not really that much of a problem (especially for a bobble!), but still! I can never quite coordinate wrapping the yarn counter-clockwise. One of these days I'll figure out how to purl backwards, too . . . just because!
Knitting backwards is such a great skill! I'm a left-handed knitter, so when I learned to knit backwards left-handed, I matched everyone else! :-) The pictures are a good idea - I'm sure many will benefit from them.
I can see how this technique would be perfect for Ruffles.
So, the real question is can you knit and play Civ at the same time?
Call me thick, but Winter 2002 of which publication??? Need info, help. Thanks!
Lacy -- "VK" is Vogue Knitting. That's where you can find more info, including purling backwards and tips for English-style knitters.
Claudia -- Only if John is actually playing and I am just watching. Which works out reasonably well most of the time. And occasionally I even learn something!
And to anyone who thinks it could be hard... well, if I can do it, it can't be so bad. I'm one of the least co-ordinated people I know and I've had a very difficult time trying to teach my self to knit English-style!
i am a self-taught left-handed knitter, and i taught myself to knit backwards from the very start. mostly because i HATED purling at the time. it is a very, very hand trick indeed.
thanks for sharing the technique!
Great tutorial. I've been wanting to learn, seems like such a fun trick. Enjoy the new game :)
knitting backwards is fun and time-saving!
i learned on circular needles by making a little entrelac hat.
I'm going to have to try it. My brain keeps telling me if I were watching from the other side, you'd be purling. I can't see it! I'll just have to do it!
I can tell you from experience that you can indeed knit and play Civ III at the same time, especially later on in the game when the computer turns start taking a while. It is, in fact, much easier to knit during Civ than during games like Ultima Online :)
I taught myself to knit backwards just for fun. It seems to help my tension as a side benefit. I haven't mastered it enough to knit backwards while playing computer games, however!
I must try this RIGHT NOW. Thanks for the tutorial!
Thank you! This is so great! I saw this the other day, and I've linked here from my blog. Suddenly I no longer hate bobbles. :-)