Knitting backwards is actually a method of purling without having to turn the work. It won’t work for things like ribbing or seed stitch; the whole row has to be purled. But, even with that restriction I have found this to be a tremendously useful technique and really, once you get the hang of it, it’s kinda fun!
I am a “thrower” not a picker. So these instructions are geared toward throwers - knitters who carry the yarn in their right hand and manually wrap it around the needle to make a stitch. I’m sure there’s a way for “pickers” to manage this technique, but I have no idea how it would work and apologize for not being able to cover both bases. But I can only show what I know how to do :)
Position of the right hand
The position of the right hand isn’t really any different than it is when you’re knitting in the regular way, that is, not backwards :) It’s one of the advantages of this technique. Your yarn, your needles and your hands all stay right where they are, uninterrupted by having to turn the fabric around to purl. At least in my case, this does wonders for my tension!
Inserting the left needle
Insert the left needle into the back of the first stitch on the right needle. The yarn is behind the needles, being held with the right hand.
Catching the yarn
Slide the needle back under the yarn and sort of scoop it forward. Keeping a moderate tension on your yarn makes this simple. You can wrap it manually but you will have to watch your tension carefully if you do it this way.
Pulling the stitch through
Then just pull the yarn through and drop the stitch off the right needle. Picking up the yarn and drawing it through are all one motion even though they’re shown here as two different steps.
New stitch on the left needle
This business of purling from the right side of the fabric is useful in many ways. It’s indispensable for Entrelac and very helpful for some types of bobbles (makes working them a lot less annoying!) and short rows. It saves so much time not to have to stop, turn the work, get your hands and yarn in position, etc. For me, it means there’s better flow to the work process - things move along more smoothly.
Pretty good tension
My tension isn’t too bad when I purl in the regular fashion though I tend to purl a bit more loosely than I knit. When I’m knitting backwards, my tension pretty good and my stitches are nice and even - so I use this technique a lot. It improves my knitting :)
See you on Monday!
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Keep these great lessons and photos comin’, Robbyn! I sure am enjoying them. In one of my upcoming entries, I’ll make a point of letting people know about your fun and educational postings!
Well shucks, ma’m…thanks! I know most of the folks already reading know all this stuff, but I hope newer knitters will find it useful.
This is amazing! I’ve got to try it right now! Thanks for the excellent illustrations and instructions. Now I’m glad I’m a thrower..
Thanks Lella, I very happy you found it useful :)
Don’t know if you go backwards and see what has been posted, but if you do then…..Gee thanks for this. I’ve been trying to find an explanation along with photos for this technique for a few weeks now. I’ve knitted for more longer than I care to say and recently decided to try to achieve the master knitter program through TKGA. It was during this that someone mentioned “knitting backwards” and I became intrigued. I attempted to do it with written text only and was missing something. Now with your explanation and photos am going to try again. The same can be said with your cable w/o needle. Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to put that information into your blog 
