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 :)

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!