#reverse knitting

[chillstitchbitch]

from right hand continental style to left hand english style! no need to turn the work!

I practiced this method of reverse knitting ever since I watched a video about entrelac knitting. it's because I hate purling!

[bluebellbluish]

So I aggressively dislike purling, and that dislike has led me to learn how to knit in reverse. I couldn’t find much about knitting in reverse continental (or left-handed continental, I suppose) so I thought I’d share how I do it just in case anyone also knits continental and would dearly, dearly like to do anything in the world except purl.

Of course, this would only work if you would turn your work — if you have alternating knit/purl stitches in your pattern (such as ribbing) you’d still have to purl. But this is super useful for working flat or short rows!!

Photos below the fold. :)

I start by switching the yarn to my right hand. I’m sure however you naturally hold your yarn would work fine, but in case you need some help getting tension, this is how I hold it:

2. I then insert my left knitting needle like I would when knitting through the back loop.

3. The way the yarn is wrapped around the needle matters. When knitting in reverse, you need to hook the yarn so that it goes counter-clockwise around the needle. The movement is very similar to norwegian purling, and is easiest to do if you don’t have a lot of yarn between your finger and the needle (at least for me). Forgive the odd finger positions, I didn’t have a tripod and was having to take these photos one-handed 😅 The second photo shows how I position the needle as I pull it through to keep it from slipping (as best as I could one-handed, anyway).

4. To maintain tension and keep stitches even, I always bring the needle through the front and keep the yarn gently tightened (not cranked tight, or anything, but to measure out the stitch) and I do the same here before pulling the stitch off the needle. Hopefully this helps you keep your tension as you go in reverse too :)

I am sure this explanation could be so much better but I hope it helps someone looking to do something similar! :) It may not work very well if you’re not ambidextrous or left-handed, and if so, the method of holding the yarn in your left hand and manually wrapping it around the needle each time may work better for you — I’ve seen tutorials of that floating around, if you’d prefer to try that!

If you wrap your yarn clockwise (which is arguably easier) your stitches will be twisted, just as an FYI. Wrapping it counter-clockwise results in regular, untwisted stitches:

I hope this helped! 🩵