How to Knit Backward

Because I shared about purling backward last week, I thought it made sense to share how to knit backward this week.

This is actually easier and feels a little more natural, but it still takes practice to get going well. I still move my hands around a lot and shift the yarn around as I am working a lot more than I would if I were knitting in the standard way.

Knitting backward is super useful when you’re working on a small number of stitches and want to be able to work Stockinette Stitch without turning the work. Yes, that means no purling!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z_dfdeYCdk&w=550&h=400]

To do it, you put the left-hand needle through the first stitch through the back loop, take the yarn over the needle counter-clockwise from the back, then form the stitch in the usual way. Check the video for more details.

I have most commonly heard of people doing this when they knit entrelac, because you’re usually only working with a very few stitches at a time and through the course of a whole project it probably does get fast enough that it rivals turning and purling back for speed.

Have you ever knit backward? I’d love to know how you used it and if you like this technique.

Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time).

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are.

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag.

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works).

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to.

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?