Friday, July 20, 2018

Knitting backwards in garter stitch

When working multiple sets of short rows over a long section of garter stitch, being able to knit backwards saves a lot of turning and repositioning. The videos I've been able to find online about knitting backwards are for working in stockinette where you are actually purling backwards, or they are very long when all I needed was to see the actual execution of the stitch. This is a just a short little cell phone clip, I don't have the equipment for making nice videos, but hopefully it will be helpful!

At the start of this clip, I am wrapping a stitch after knitting normally (from right to left), then instead of turning, I begin to knit backwards (from left to right). Even after doing this over the course of a large shawl, it is still a bit awkward for me and I have to be careful about my tension. It speeds things up considerably though! I knit continental, so if you're a thrower your working yarn will be in your other hand.