I'm sure you had to narrow down just what project types you'd use reverse knitting in for this video, however I think you missed a real BIG one! ENTRELAC knitting where individual diamond shaped sections that are anywhere from 5 to 30 stitches and double the number of rows deep. That's literally hundreds of turns per row of diamonds. Reverse knitting certainly became a god-send for me when I made a 5 foot by 2 foot Entrelac wrap for my mother-in-law using a fingering weight yarn! I was even asked to teach this technique to my local knitting club even though like you, I didn't learn this technique from a book or a video, I kept starting the stitch and then turning the piece around to see how it looked from the front! I just love knitting and exploring all the techniques that I can use to create the finished project I'm envisioning. Thanks for your entertaining and informative videos!
I am left handed but I am ever grateful that my mother, who was right handed, taught me to knit her way, right handed. As you say, you use two hands to knit so I have never had any problems. As for mirror knitting, I tried this a few years ago but have never tried it again until now that I have seen your video. I am knitting socks in the round at present but, when I next knit stocking stitch I will try reverse knitting the purl row. I don't like knitting purl rows and breath a sigh of relief when I can get back to a knit row again! I'm not a beginner, I learned to knit when I was 5 years old and am now 74! Thank you for inspiring me to try reverse knitting again!
I always refer to it as 'Left handed' knitting, I am ambidextrous, and haven't had an issue flipping knit and purl stitches when working a pattern. I LOVE doing this specially with larger projects to avoid flipping projects over, and look like a typewriter before just going back and forth with large colorwork projects.
Your way is what I aspire to be good at doing one day. I'm done near ambidextrous, but it's more like there are simply things I'm better at with my left hand than with my right, and I am right-handed for the most part. Maybe it's like the bridge in my brain is not wide enough for much traffic... I think it would be easier if my right hand and not learned some things first. It seems that learning something with my left hand that my right hand is never done is ever so much easier.
I learned how to reverse knit when I tackled an entrelac project. Saved me from all that turning! I also find it invaluable for knitting sock yarn blankets (with the diamond shapes) and also sock heel flaps and turns. It is definitely worth devoting some time to learn how!
I learnt this as a beginner knitter because I saw it mentioned somewhere that it’s useful for large projects like blankets. My first project is a (plain stocking stitch) blanket, so I gave it a go! I’ve since used it (while still working on the blanket) for doing some of the short rows of the Emotional Support Chicken. 😊
A very valuable lesson. I am ambidextrous, which is a fancy way of saying I don't know one hand from the other, so, especially with charted designs, this method will be well worth the reprogramming effort.
I had a horrible teacher in school when i tried to learn how to knit. Being 12 i was a bit nerdy, I wanted to make my own gryffindor scarf, told the teacher that i wanted to learn to knit. Got a response that I would never have the patience to finish it. Since I'm stubborn, i insisted. After one hour per week trying to learn for a month, i had 10cm of what I considered a practise piece. Feeling very proud, my teacher asked to look at it. She held it up to the lamp and loudly exclaimed how horrible it looked and made sure everyone in class could see all my mistakes. I didn't knit again until i watched Doctor who almost 5 years later and again, i wanted to make a scarf but this time inspired by the 4th doctor. Remembering the basic stitch i had learned, i knitted a scarf in several different colours and since i had never learned how to "properly" turn, i just mirrored my stitches 😅 I've had it for 10 years now and i always get compliments if i wear it out !
What a terrible teacher! I can't understand how people think behaviour like that is constructive or helpful. I'm very glad you found your way back to knitting despite her!
I already have to reverse everything because I knit in a Turkish style, so this seems like it could be great for knitting in stockinette. thanks for the cool video!
I have often used backward knitting, especially if it was for smaller sections, and I didn't want to turn my work. It makes my work go faster. Thanks for sharing
I'm a lefty, and I tried to learn to knit left-handed in the 1970s. Directions were awful, and at the time, I didn't realize that mirroring reversed handedness. I hate how right-handed our world is, but I'm still glad I learned to knit like my right-handed best friend and her mother because they could help me when things went wrong, which of course it did as a beginner. I'm looking forward to trying this technique! At least my left hand should be able to put the needle through the loop!
I use this technique when doing entrelac. And I learned this by accident! I didn't want to turn my work arount every 5 stitches, so I improvised and can do reverse knitting without any problems now! However I've never thought of using it for stranded colorwork knit flat. I could have definitely used it recently while doing a lot of it for a test knit! Thank you for the great idea!
I am lefthanded, and still fairly new at knitting. It took me ages to learn knitting, since I did what I was told but it never looked the way it was supposed to look. So I did not understand it. Wish I had learned to do it this way, definitively going to learn it now ... lefthanded reverse. :)
Well thank you for such a clear demonstration. Not sure my brain is ready to use this but your explanation has been the best I have seen, especially looking from the back to understand what is going on. If nothing else it's another way to help me understand where the yarn is going and why I am putting it there.
I'm ambidextrous and I've been knitting in a similar way since day one! Similar because I do everything in continental. I had no idea people called it mirror knitting, I do it that way for every project simply because my hands are as fast as each other so it's faster not to turn the work around. Some of my irl friends are learning from me simply because once you get good with your not-dominating hand you are faster.
I first learned to knit in South America when I was 10 on hand made bamboo needles (which is another fun story), and I was taught to purl back left handed without turning, throwing with my left hand. For the next 20 years I only made squares and rectangles (dish cloths, blankets and scarves) and not very often. When I picked knitting back up regularly and started knitting socks and hats, too, I was knitting in a group in the US. They thought that I knitted "weird." They didnt say "wrong", but the implication was there, so I taught myself how to turn and purl. It took a while to get rid of the rowing out, which I didn't have before, but eventually I was knitting "normally" except for still throwing with my left hand. I thought that the left hand was more comfortable to me because I crocheted more than knitted. I made myself switch to continental a few years ago to make stranded knitting easier, so now I pick with working yarn in my left hand and my completed work in my right hand, and I throw the contrasting color with my right hand 🤦♀️ I've come full circle. I do still "mirror knit" when I'm making endless rows of flat stockinette. For continental, I tried several purling techniques including Norwegian(!) and settled on pulling my yarn to the front with my index finger sort of like Kay Litton does.
Will have to share , for stockinette, that would work for continental knitters who would really benefit from keeping the yarn in the back in both directions ! Thank you !
I do a fish lips kiss heel on my vanilla socks. I taught myself to purl from the front just because it was irritating to turn the work for such a short row, and I think it’s faster to just work from the front, too. It did take me quite a bit time to get the action into muscle memory, but now that I have, I am as fast working back as I am working front. U r right, too, the tension is better. You are also right about teaching left handed ppl - I am left handed, but taught myself to knit right handed just because I could not face reversing every pattern I wanted to knit! That was too much for my poor brain to cope with - and I think left handed ppl have an attention deficit anyway, as I never meet one who didn’t struggle to tell the difference between left and right for a good bit longer than right handed ppl! I enjoyed this - TFS.
I've experimented with mirror knitting, but I haven't used it in a project yet. I'm going to try it when I'm knitting both sides of a v-neck at once, because even though there's only two balls of yarn involved, it can still be a hassle moving them around. And since increases and decreases are most commonly done on the right side, I wouldn't even need to figure out how to do them in reverse.
Great tutorial! I can see this useful for many projects where you have to flip a lot! Now I just need to work on my right hand dexterity (I'm left handed so will have to flip the instructions)! I wouldn't teach this as a way to teach a lefthander, it's too complicated. Just have them do normal knit and purl stitches coming from the other direction. I really only have to adjust what I'm doing for cables and increase/decrease and even then not that often.
I taught myself to mirror knit bobbles. Turning a large project to purl 4 or 5 stitches seemed more complicated than just working those stitches back the other direction without moving the whole project
I’ve been wanting to learn this technique for years. This would be so helpful in my current project so I think I’m going to rewatch and dive in. Thank you for making this video!
I've been using this technique for a couple of months. I use it for socks when knitting the heel flap and turn. Also when knitting short rows on a sweater. It definitely helps with my tension.
I knit this way all the time , i am left-handed and was taught by my grandmother andwho was right-handed, and my mother, who was left-handed . It's so fast to knit entalac .
Thanks, this was great! I use reverse knitting when I knit extra strong sock soles (my feet are sock killers! I need extra robust soles, or they wear through very fast) with tight stitches, such as the linen stitch. It is such a tight stitch that the undersole will get much shorter than the rows on top of the foot, unless I add some extra rows to the sole. And for me, it feels much easier to reverse knit than work the extra rows from the purl side.
I knit continental but do awkward pinching the yarn to purl in the front which strains my hands after a while. I'm excited to try this as an alternative
That was very interesting. I've not done that before. I would have to see what my continental version of this might look like. Throwing is so hard on my hands. I do a modified Norwegian purl as well. So, my normal is to knit in the back loop. This might make me cross-eyed. 🤣🤪🥴
Although I’m a picker and have a decent method for purling, I am so excited to try this technique. I’ve struggled with tension issues so this may be a way to get past that. Thank you for sharing your method!
I've experimented some with reverse knitting. I want to make a hönsestrikk cardigan with stranded knitting all over. And I think that is a good way to make some of it! I the beginning I made a lot of twisted stitches and I don't have a problem with it if it makes the reverse side easier. But I know how to do it "right" as well.
I used the technique for entrelac. It was so much easier reverse knitting because otherwise you have to turn so many times. Going back and forth on 6 stitches was better for me than turn, turn, turn!!
As a leftie wh started knitting a year and a half ago, this is my preferred way to knit (lefthanded eastern continental) . I tried righthanded and it was okay, but this is definitely better for me. I was disappointed that you indicated that you need to adjust patterns. I always knit as written and get the mirrored result. The only time it might matter is gendered buttonbands on cardigans and text. The only thing I replace is that I replace western stitches with the equivalent. However, when I knit western I follow patterns exactly as written (I knit eastern for a nerdy/technical reason. I.e. to fight untwisting and splitting the more common s-plied yarns. For blown, single ply, chainnette, and zplied cotton yarns I knit western or when knitting flat combination). Please consider this for lefties and rather than discouraging them just let them know they would get a mirrored result with the caveat that it is obviously easier to get help if you knit righthanded and thus worth trying both and if righthanded feels good go with that, but if not lefthanded is wonderful.
My mom taught me how to mirror knit, ironically, as how to knit. I learned stockinette and gave up knitting for many years. When I came back to knitting, I was super confused about turning your work since I remembered it all as "passing" your work from needle to needle. I have forced myself to learn the "proper" way to knit (I still English Throw) and it was only a few days ago I went on true autopilot and mirror knit out of the blue, not knowing what I was doing, which resulted in me having to frog an entire start to a blanket because I confused myself (and my tension was all off).
I have found mirror knitting to be very useful for working bobbles. Knit normally with stockinette for most rows but when I get to a bobble row increasing and then doing 5xrows of a 3 wide column it's just faster to mirror knit. In this video I did find it confusing when you mentioned alternating knit and purl rows in stockinette when the work was facing you the whole time. Think of it like knitting in the round when the work also always faces you, we don't refer to that as alternating knit and purl rows? I think it would be simpler for you to always refer to the stitch that you are doing when the right side of the work is facing you which for this garment is always a knit stitch. I wouldn't refer to this as alternating between knit and purl rows
So I'm a lefty and this has become my preferred style for cables and lace work. I go between this style and portuguese depending on pain levels. And for flat projects it's amazing. It's basically continental purling with the yarn in the right hand. and it just makes so much more sense to me to do this. Of course the hard part is wrapping my head around working cables backwards. I knit a backward stitch when I want the RS row to have a purl and vice versa. so that also changes the directions that I need to lay the stitches for the cable. For example: a 3x3 left learning cable means that i really have to remember that front isn't facing me, it's facing the RS of the project not the front towards me! lol.
Hello. Do you think using this method could help my knitting on the edges. It s years I m knitting but whatever methods I use just cannot get nice beat edges. I ve tried using 1 smaller size knitting needles when I do the purl side but the first 3 to 4 stitches when looking at my knitting on the knit side has that space between the two lines. Is there any other way to tackle this issue. Thanks
I taught myself mirror knitting because I just Could Not figure out how to make my purl stitches work right. Pro tip for if you want to keep holding the yarn in your right hand, try to "pick" the stitch like you're knitting mirrored continental, rather than throwing style. So the yarn would go over the middle bone of your index finger, rather than being held between the fingertips. Something to remember is that in mirror knitting you're either going to have to mirror which hand holds the yarn (but use roughly the same yarn-moving technique), or learn the mirrored movements of a different knitting technique (flicking/throwing with left for continental knitters, picking with right for flickers/throwers) but because the direction that the yarn needs to move is very different, you can't keep both. Edit: Doing my colorwork this way allows me to hold both my yarns at once, so I don't have to drop either thread to tension and knit the other color. It really is a lot faster when you don't have to re-tension the yarn every other stitch. Mirror knitting makes stockinette scarves a whole lot easier, let me tell you, and never MIND entrelac. Also makes it easier to see the colorwork you're doing as you're knitting it for flat colorwork, and I've used it in the straps of a tank-top and a vest before. Plus, for me it demonstrates to myself that I really understand the geometry of the stitches, and that makes me more confident in the rest of my 'try something unusual to see what happens' experiments. Like laddering down larger sections because I know I can re-knit them back and forth, rather than having to use a crochet hook to ladder them individually, or playing around with which needle I'm knitting onto. Idk, I think it just made me a much more confident knitter to play around with mirror knitting, and that's something I want everyone to experience.
My mum and grandma taught me basic knit and purl then left me to it, probably expecting me to drop knitting in no time (I was 5 and I am still undiagnosed but fairly sure I'm ADHD). I didn't and I basically taught myself knitting without patterns or internet. Mirror knitting is the only way I knit unless it's in the round. Turning the work just doesn't make sense to my brain. For years I was looking for someone who knits like me and the name of what I'm doing because I couldn't be the only one. I almost gave up and then YT dropped this video into my recommended feed! It's so great to finally have a name but it's also sad to know most people see this as a gimmick, so I will forever have to re-write every other line of every pattern for myself.
I have an easier way of using the English style to knit backwards. I knit right to left Continental. I knit left to right English. Best of both worlds I think.
I just tried mirror knitting for a pearl row of my shawl.... it is slow at the moment.... but I think I like it better than pearling! The term reverse knitting sounds to me like you are pulling out your stitches to fix mistakes!
I'm listening to your explanation in the first part of this video but it would be ever so much easier if it was from the perspective of being over your shoulder while you're explaining. Most of the time I think I'm about half dyslexic.. it's probably why I find Eastern* knitting so much easier. Knit and Russian Pearl are exactly the opposite of each other. You Knit on the backside of your On needle & work, and you Purl on the front side doing Russian Purl. When it comes to doing any fancy or stitches, all I have to do is watch a Russian title video, turn down the volume - or not, maybe I will speak Russkiy one day - my eyes understand every word they say with their hands. Some Middle Eastern and Turkish ladies knit Eastern, most nit German or "Continental". A lot of Indian women knit English, fewer do Eastern. Many of my Asian/Oriental subscriptions do Eastern. I found it delightfully easy and a lot less work so I just had to look up "what is the old traditional way of knitting in Russia and Asia?". Unfortunately young women wanting to expand their Horizons and you don't have grandmas and mothers that can teach them, are learning the German/Continental way. *a.k.a. Eastern European knitting, a.k.a.Russian knitting
I knit backwards continental. Your problem is in theway you feedback the left needle. Place the thread on your left hand and take the point the way you do it and then insert the left needle from the bottom part. You don’ need to wrap the yarn. Do it as continental on the left hand
Sort of, direction yes, stitch no. She has to go in the back leg to do the purling backwards. If I'm knitting (left-handed) then I go thru the front like a normal knit stitch.
Ich dtehe meine Strickstücke seit über 40 Jahren nicht mehr um. 1. weil das Strickbild gleichmäßiger ist (die meisten Leute Stricken links lockerer als rechts und so entstehen Streifen) 2. weil so mehrer Farben/Knäuel nicht verheddern 3. weil es schneller geht, wenn ich weder Nadel noch Faden am Anfang einer neuen Reihe in die andere Hand wechseln muss.
because I'm left handed I call this "normal knitting" I'm joking of course, I understand that with this technique I would switch to right handed knitting for wrong side rows
This actually makes me very angry 😡 I started doing this YEARS ago. I was brand new at knitting, I made the mistake of going to a knitting shop and showing the owner. She actually semi yelled at me saying I was doing everything wrong. I actually stopped knitting for years because I was so discouraged
I'm sure you had to narrow down just what project types you'd use reverse knitting in for this video, however I think you missed a real BIG one! ENTRELAC knitting where individual diamond shaped sections that are anywhere from 5 to 30 stitches and double the number of rows deep. That's literally hundreds of turns per row of diamonds. Reverse knitting certainly became a god-send for me when I made a 5 foot by 2 foot Entrelac wrap for my mother-in-law using a fingering weight yarn! I was even asked to teach this technique to my local knitting club even though like you, I didn't learn this technique from a book or a video, I kept starting the stitch and then turning the piece around to see how it looked from the front! I just love knitting and exploring all the techniques that I can use to create the finished project I'm envisioning. Thanks for your entertaining and informative videos!
That's a huge one! Entrelac is so much easier when you can knit backwards!
I also taught myself mirror knitting for entrelac, wow did it make the project more pleasant!
Oh, yes.
Entrelac was the reason I learned how to knit backwards
Meg Swanson taught this for entrelac and it was the only reason I knew of to use it
I am left handed but I am ever grateful that my mother, who was right handed, taught me to knit her way, right handed. As you say, you use two hands to knit so I have never had any problems. As for mirror knitting, I tried this a few years ago but have never tried it again until now that I have seen your video. I am knitting socks in the round at present but, when I next knit stocking stitch I will try reverse knitting the purl row. I don't like knitting purl rows and breath a sigh of relief when I can get back to a knit row again! I'm not a beginner, I learned to knit when I was 5 years old and am now 74! Thank you for inspiring me to try reverse knitting again!
I always refer to it as 'Left handed' knitting, I am ambidextrous, and haven't had an issue flipping knit and purl stitches when working a pattern. I LOVE doing this specially with larger projects to avoid flipping projects over, and look like a typewriter before just going back and forth with large colorwork projects.
Your way is what I aspire to be good at doing one day. I'm done near ambidextrous, but it's more like there are simply things I'm better at with my left hand than with my right, and I am right-handed for the most part. Maybe it's like the bridge in my brain is not wide enough for much traffic... I think it would be easier if my right hand and not learned some things first. It seems that learning something with my left hand that my right hand is never done is ever so much easier.
I learned how to reverse knit when I tackled an entrelac project. Saved me from all that turning! I also find it invaluable for knitting sock yarn blankets (with the diamond shapes) and also sock heel flaps and turns. It is definitely worth devoting some time to learn how!
Yes! So many great ways to use this technique.
I finally found a video explaining the way I was taught to knit. I learned the mirror knit style 😂😅
I learnt this as a beginner knitter because I saw it mentioned somewhere that it’s useful for large projects like blankets. My first project is a (plain stocking stitch) blanket, so I gave it a go!
I’ve since used it (while still working on the blanket) for doing some of the short rows of the Emotional Support Chicken. 😊
A very valuable lesson. I am ambidextrous, which is a fancy way of saying I don't know one hand from the other, so, especially with charted designs, this method will be well worth the reprogramming effort.
Never knew that existed LOl… but it makes perfect sense now!
I had a horrible teacher in school when i tried to learn how to knit. Being 12 i was a bit nerdy, I wanted to make my own gryffindor scarf, told the teacher that i wanted to learn to knit. Got a response that I would never have the patience to finish it. Since I'm stubborn, i insisted. After one hour per week trying to learn for a month, i had 10cm of what I considered a practise piece. Feeling very proud, my teacher asked to look at it. She held it up to the lamp and loudly exclaimed how horrible it looked and made sure everyone in class could see all my mistakes.
I didn't knit again until i watched Doctor who almost 5 years later and again, i wanted to make a scarf but this time inspired by the 4th doctor. Remembering the basic stitch i had learned, i knitted a scarf in several different colours and since i had never learned how to "properly" turn, i just mirrored my stitches 😅 I've had it for 10 years now and i always get compliments if i wear it out !
What a terrible teacher! I can't understand how people think behaviour like that is constructive or helpful. I'm very glad you found your way back to knitting despite her!
I already have to reverse everything because I knit in a Turkish style, so this seems like it could be great for knitting in stockinette. thanks for the cool video!
That seems like it would be excellent for heel flaps on socks! I definitely need to try it, thank you for sharing!
You're welcome - it's a great tool for sock knitting!
I have often used backward knitting, especially if it was for smaller sections, and I didn't want to turn my work. It makes my work go faster. Thanks for sharing
I'm a lefty, and I tried to learn to knit left-handed in the 1970s. Directions were awful, and at the time, I didn't realize that mirroring reversed handedness. I hate how right-handed our world is, but I'm still glad I learned to knit like my right-handed best friend and her mother because they could help me when things went wrong, which of course it did as a beginner. I'm looking forward to trying this technique! At least my left hand should be able to put the needle through the loop!
What a discovery for me?! Thank you! I can't wait to try it! P.S.: I love the sweater that you are making!
I use this technique when doing entrelac. And I learned this by accident! I didn't want to turn my work arount every 5 stitches, so I improvised and can do reverse knitting without any problems now!
However I've never thought of using it for stranded colorwork knit flat. I could have definitely used it recently while doing a lot of it for a test knit! Thank you for the great idea!
There are so many reasons it's a useful skill - and entrelac is definitely one of them (can't believe I forgot that one!).
I am lefthanded, and still fairly new at knitting. It took me ages to learn knitting, since I did what I was told but it never looked the way it was supposed to look. So I did not understand it. Wish I had learned to do it this way, definitively going to learn it now ... lefthanded reverse. :)
Well thank you for such a clear demonstration. Not sure my brain is ready to use this but your explanation has been the best I have seen, especially looking from the back to understand what is going on. If nothing else it's another way to help me understand where the yarn is going and why I am putting it there.
I'm glad it was helpful! Sometimes it helps to watch multiple videos on the same topic before it finally clicks.
When you mentioned that you would be recording a video on this I was very intrigued. Thank you for making this video so quickly.
You're welcome! Since I was using the technique so much with my current projects, it seemed like the perfect time.
I'm ambidextrous and I've been knitting in a similar way since day one! Similar because I do everything in continental. I had no idea people called it mirror knitting, I do it that way for every project simply because my hands are as fast as each other so it's faster not to turn the work around. Some of my irl friends are learning from me simply because once you get good with your not-dominating hand you are faster.
Thank you. I am knitting an intarsia project now with 6 colors. I am going to try this.
I first learned to knit in South America when I was 10 on hand made bamboo needles (which is another fun story), and I was taught to purl back left handed without turning, throwing with my left hand. For the next 20 years I only made squares and rectangles (dish cloths, blankets and scarves) and not very often. When I picked knitting back up regularly and started knitting socks and hats, too, I was knitting in a group in the US. They thought that I knitted "weird." They didnt say "wrong", but the implication was there, so I taught myself how to turn and purl. It took a while to get rid of the rowing out, which I didn't have before, but eventually I was knitting "normally" except for still throwing with my left hand. I thought that the left hand was more comfortable to me because I crocheted more than knitted. I made myself switch to continental a few years ago to make stranded knitting easier, so now I pick with working yarn in my left hand and my completed work in my right hand, and I throw the contrasting color with my right hand 🤦♀️ I've come full circle. I do still "mirror knit" when I'm making endless rows of flat stockinette. For continental, I tried several purling techniques including Norwegian(!) and settled on pulling my yarn to the front with my index finger sort of like Kay Litton does.
Will have to share , for stockinette, that would work for continental knitters who would really benefit from keeping the yarn in the back in both directions ! Thank you !
I do a fish lips kiss heel on my vanilla socks. I taught myself to purl from the front just because it was irritating to turn the work for such a short row, and I think it’s faster to just work from the front, too. It did take me quite a bit time to get the action into muscle memory, but now that I have, I am as fast working back as I am working front. U r right, too, the tension is better. You are also right about teaching left handed ppl - I am left handed, but taught myself to knit right handed just because I could not face reversing every pattern I wanted to knit! That was too much for my poor brain to cope with - and I think left handed ppl have an attention deficit anyway, as I never meet one who didn’t struggle to tell the difference between left and right for a good bit longer than right handed ppl! I enjoyed this - TFS.
I've experimented with mirror knitting, but I haven't used it in a project yet. I'm going to try it when I'm knitting both sides of a v-neck at once, because even though there's only two balls of yarn involved, it can still be a hassle moving them around. And since increases and decreases are most commonly done on the right side, I wouldn't even need to figure out how to do them in reverse.
Yes - that's a perfect time to use mirror knitting!
Great tutorial! I can see this useful for many projects where you have to flip a lot! Now I just need to work on my right hand dexterity (I'm left handed so will have to flip the instructions)!
I wouldn't teach this as a way to teach a lefthander, it's too complicated. Just have them do normal knit and purl stitches coming from the other direction. I really only have to adjust what I'm doing for cables and increase/decrease and even then not that often.
I often use mirror knitting when I’m doing something two at a time.
Especially sock heels!
Yes - that's a great time to use it!
Really looking forward to trying this in a swatch. I'm a picker so it might take me some unlearning.
This is very handy when knitting short row heels on socks
I taught myself to mirror knit bobbles. Turning a large project to purl 4 or 5 stitches seemed more complicated than just working those stitches back the other direction without moving the whole project
Yes - bobbles are another great reason to use this technique!
Me too. It is great for bobbles.
I learned to do it when making a very narrow scarf that I just couldn't be bothered to keep turning round - same rationale as for bobbles/entrelac.
I’ve been wanting to learn this technique for years. This would be so helpful in my current project so I think I’m going to rewatch and dive in. Thank you for making this video!
You can do it! It's a great tool to have your knitting skillset!
Thank you for this tutorial. I have some issues with purling, I'm looking forward to trying this method.
I also learned to knit backwards to make an Entrelac scarf.a very useful skill. I hold my yarn in my right hand.
Entrelac is a great way to use this skill - there would be so much turning otherwise!
I've been using this technique for a couple of months. I use it for socks when knitting the heel flap and turn. Also when knitting short rows on a sweater. It definitely helps with my tension.
I knit this way all the time , i am left-handed and was taught by my grandmother andwho was right-handed, and my mother, who was left-handed . It's so fast to knit entalac .
I learned what is was in your last video! It was perfect timing for the project I’ve been working on. Thank you!🙏🏻
I use this technique all the time, especially when I am working on a blanket or a big shawl that has a lot of purl stitches.
I tried it since you mentioned it in ur last video and wowsers... I love it...thank you
Thanks, this was great! I use reverse knitting when I knit extra strong sock soles (my feet are sock killers! I need extra robust soles, or they wear through very fast) with tight stitches, such as the linen stitch. It is such a tight stitch that the undersole will get much shorter than the rows on top of the foot, unless I add some extra rows to the sole. And for me, it feels much easier to reverse knit than work the extra rows from the purl side.
Great idea! I may have to try that with my next pair of socks (fellow sock killer here!).
I knit continental but do awkward pinching the yarn to purl in the front which strains my hands after a while. I'm excited to try this as an alternative
Wow that is amazing thank you for sharing❤❤❤❤❤❤
Very interesting, it could be very useful. For myself I’ll continue using steeks. 😊 Thank you for a great video.
I swear you are so good at explaining things
Aww, thanks! ☺️
@@NerdyKnitting You are welcome, I tried it and wow I improved so much from watching your video.
That was very interesting. I've not done that before.
I would have to see what my continental version of this might look like. Throwing is so hard on my hands.
I do a modified Norwegian purl as well. So, my normal is to knit in the back loop.
This might make me cross-eyed. 🤣🤪🥴
Entrelac is an ideal time to use this technique. I learned it when I was learning entrelac.
Oh, yes - all that back-and-forth with entrelac is definitely easier with this technique!
This is fantastic! I am definitely going to find a small project to try this ☺️
Although I’m a picker and have a decent method for purling, I am so excited to try this technique. I’ve struggled with tension issues so this may be a way to get past that. Thank you for sharing your method!
You're welcome!
Thank you for this tutorial. I definitely will add this to my tool box.
I've experimented some with reverse knitting. I want to make a hönsestrikk cardigan with stranded knitting all over. And I think that is a good way to make some of it!
I the beginning I made a lot of twisted stitches and I don't have a problem with it if it makes the reverse side easier. But I know how to do it "right" as well.
I used the technique for entrelac. It was so much easier reverse knitting because otherwise you have to turn so many times. Going back and forth on 6 stitches was better for me than turn, turn, turn!!
As a leftie wh started knitting a year and a half ago, this is my preferred way to knit (lefthanded eastern continental) . I tried righthanded and it was okay, but this is definitely better for me. I was disappointed that you indicated that you need to adjust patterns. I always knit as written and get the mirrored result. The only time it might matter is gendered buttonbands on cardigans and text. The only thing I replace is that I replace western stitches with the equivalent. However, when I knit western I follow patterns exactly as written (I knit eastern for a nerdy/technical reason. I.e. to fight untwisting and splitting the more common s-plied yarns. For blown, single ply, chainnette, and zplied cotton yarns I knit western or when knitting flat combination). Please consider this for lefties and rather than discouraging them just let them know they would get a mirrored result with the caveat that it is obviously easier to get help if you knit righthanded and thus worth trying both and if righthanded feels good go with that, but if not lefthanded is wonderful.
Very interesting! Thanks for this.
Great video, thanks!!☺️
Very cool, thank you!
I need to try this out! Thanks.
My mom taught me how to mirror knit, ironically, as how to knit. I learned stockinette and gave up knitting for many years. When I came back to knitting, I was super confused about turning your work since I remembered it all as "passing" your work from needle to needle. I have forced myself to learn the "proper" way to knit (I still English Throw) and it was only a few days ago I went on true autopilot and mirror knit out of the blue, not knowing what I was doing, which resulted in me having to frog an entire start to a blanket because I confused myself (and my tension was all off).
That's really neat that your body had the muscle memory for mirror knitting!
Thanks .)
I have found mirror knitting to be very useful for working bobbles. Knit normally with stockinette for most rows but when I get to a bobble row increasing and then doing 5xrows of a 3 wide column it's just faster to mirror knit.
In this video I did find it confusing when you mentioned alternating knit and purl rows in stockinette when the work was facing you the whole time. Think of it like knitting in the round when the work also always faces you, we don't refer to that as alternating knit and purl rows? I think it would be simpler for you to always refer to the stitch that you are doing when the right side of the work is facing you which for this garment is always a knit stitch. I wouldn't refer to this as alternating between knit and purl rows
So I'm a lefty and this has become my preferred style for cables and lace work. I go between this style and portuguese depending on pain levels. And for flat projects it's amazing. It's basically continental purling with the yarn in the right hand. and it just makes so much more sense to me to do this. Of course the hard part is wrapping my head around working cables backwards. I knit a backward stitch when I want the RS row to have a purl and vice versa. so that also changes the directions that I need to lay the stitches for the cable. For example: a 3x3 left learning cable means that i really have to remember that front isn't facing me, it's facing the RS of the project not the front towards me! lol.
Hello. Do you think using this method could help my knitting on the edges. It s years I m knitting but whatever methods I use just cannot get nice beat edges. I ve tried using 1 smaller size knitting needles when I do the purl side but the first 3 to 4 stitches when looking at my knitting on the knit side has that space between the two lines. Is there any other way to tackle this issue. Thanks
Yes, definitely - my tension is much better when I purl this way than the 'normal' way.
I taught myself mirror knitting because I just Could Not figure out how to make my purl stitches work right. Pro tip for if you want to keep holding the yarn in your right hand, try to "pick" the stitch like you're knitting mirrored continental, rather than throwing style. So the yarn would go over the middle bone of your index finger, rather than being held between the fingertips. Something to remember is that in mirror knitting you're either going to have to mirror which hand holds the yarn (but use roughly the same yarn-moving technique), or learn the mirrored movements of a different knitting technique (flicking/throwing with left for continental knitters, picking with right for flickers/throwers) but because the direction that the yarn needs to move is very different, you can't keep both. Edit: Doing my colorwork this way allows me to hold both my yarns at once, so I don't have to drop either thread to tension and knit the other color. It really is a lot faster when you don't have to re-tension the yarn every other stitch.
Mirror knitting makes stockinette scarves a whole lot easier, let me tell you, and never MIND entrelac. Also makes it easier to see the colorwork you're doing as you're knitting it for flat colorwork, and I've used it in the straps of a tank-top and a vest before. Plus, for me it demonstrates to myself that I really understand the geometry of the stitches, and that makes me more confident in the rest of my 'try something unusual to see what happens' experiments. Like laddering down larger sections because I know I can re-knit them back and forth, rather than having to use a crochet hook to ladder them individually, or playing around with which needle I'm knitting onto. Idk, I think it just made me a much more confident knitter to play around with mirror knitting, and that's something I want everyone to experience.
Great advice!
You might have to "guest" appear on the podcast. I need to see this.
You have just bent my brain😂
How do you manage the tension?
Lots of practice! I wrap the yarn around my finger - but it took my awhile to find a method that felt comfortable.
@@NerdyKnitting Thanks. I’ll keep working on it.
Do you have a technique of catching floats knitting flat in mirror stitches?
I just lay the yarn that is being carried over the working yarn before knitting a stitch and that does the trick.
This is how I knit all the time mirror knitting because I am lefthanded.
My mum and grandma taught me basic knit and purl then left me to it, probably expecting me to drop knitting in no time (I was 5 and I am still undiagnosed but fairly sure I'm ADHD). I didn't and I basically taught myself knitting without patterns or internet. Mirror knitting is the only way I knit unless it's in the round. Turning the work just doesn't make sense to my brain. For years I was looking for someone who knits like me and the name of what I'm doing because I couldn't be the only one. I almost gave up and then YT dropped this video into my recommended feed! It's so great to finally have a name but it's also sad to know most people see this as a gimmick, so I will forever have to re-write every other line of every pattern for myself.
I have an easier way of using the English style to knit backwards. I knit right to left Continental. I knit left to right English. Best of both worlds I think.
Would this work when doing German short rows?
Yes - I use it all the time when I'm using short rows.
❤
I just tried mirror knitting for a pearl row of my shawl.... it is slow at the moment.... but I think I like it better than pearling!
The term reverse knitting sounds to me like you are pulling out your stitches to fix mistakes!
😻
I'm listening to your explanation in the first part of this video but it would be ever so much easier if it was from the perspective of being over your shoulder while you're explaining. Most of the time I think I'm about half dyslexic.. it's probably why I find Eastern* knitting so much easier. Knit and Russian Pearl are exactly the opposite of each other. You Knit on the backside of your On needle & work, and you Purl on the front side doing Russian Purl. When it comes to doing any fancy or stitches, all I have to do is watch a Russian title video, turn down the volume - or not, maybe I will speak Russkiy one day - my eyes understand every word they say with their hands. Some Middle Eastern and Turkish ladies knit Eastern, most nit German or "Continental". A lot of Indian women knit English, fewer do Eastern. Many of my Asian/Oriental subscriptions do Eastern. I found it delightfully easy and a lot less work so I just had to look up "what is the old traditional way of knitting in Russia and Asia?". Unfortunately young women wanting to expand their Horizons and you don't have grandmas and mothers that can teach them, are learning the German/Continental way.
*a.k.a. Eastern European knitting, a.k.a.Russian knitting
I knit backwards continental. Your problem is in theway you feedback the left needle.
Place the thread on your left hand and take the point the way you do it and then insert the left needle from the bottom part. You don’ need to wrap the yarn. Do it as continental on the left hand
Your thread now will be on your right hand
For those of us who are left handed - you are knitting left handed and being ambidextrous helps
Sort of, direction yes, stitch no. She has to go in the back leg to do the purling backwards. If I'm knitting (left-handed) then I go thru the front like a normal knit stitch.
The brain is willing, but the hands are reluctant 😂😂😂 I must just need more practice 😅
It is definitely weird (for awhile!) but you will get used to it!
It’s called left handed knitting.
Ich dtehe meine Strickstücke seit über 40 Jahren nicht mehr um.
1. weil das Strickbild gleichmäßiger ist (die meisten Leute Stricken links lockerer als rechts und so entstehen Streifen)
2. weil so mehrer Farben/Knäuel nicht verheddern
3. weil es schneller geht, wenn ich weder Nadel noch Faden am Anfang einer neuen Reihe in die andere Hand wechseln muss.
because I'm left handed I call this "normal knitting"
I'm joking of course, I understand that with this technique I would switch to right handed knitting for wrong side rows
you should google one-handed knitters.
This actually makes me very angry 😡 I started doing this YEARS ago. I was brand new at knitting, I made the mistake of going to a knitting shop and showing the owner. She actually semi yelled at me saying I was doing everything wrong. I actually stopped knitting for years because I was so discouraged
That's awful - I'm so glad you found your way back to knitting!