OMG! I've been knitting backwards!

[Christine]

ROTFLMAO!

Only I could do this.

I thought I was so cool, teaching myself to knit. Well, I didn't pay as much attention as I should have to the directions, and I've been inserting my needle in a completely bass ackward way.

Here's me knitting, then purling:

http://pages.ivillage.com/aerynsun73/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/backwards.jpg http://pages.ivillage.com/aerynsun73/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/backwards2.jpg

Basically, I've been using the back of the loop instead of the front, but I've been consistent, so it's actually been working (though I admit it is much easier to do it the right way!)

Here's a swatch with the bottom two rows my messed up way, and the top two the correct way. You can kind of see the "Vs" face the opposite way. LOL.
http://pages.ivillage.com/aerynsun73/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/backwards3.jpg

I don't care, my Wonder Pants will just have to have a few backwards rows!

[pageta]

If you're inserting the needle backwards, you're probably wrapping the yarn the opposite way too since you're getting the desired result. That's perfectly fine. I saw someone a couple weeks ago at a knitting group who literally knit backwards - she's lefthanded and some book she read when she learned how to knit told her to do it backwards since she is left handed so that is what she does. It was very odd to see. The only trick is knowing how to understand patterns and apply them to your knitting technique - so if you're knitting through the back of the loop and winding the yarn clockwise, to k tbl you would need to knit through the front of the loop and not the back.

[ravingcutie]

Lol! That's what learning is all about!

[Quinlonsma]

AWESOME!! hOW DID YOU FIND OUT?
oops caps lck ;)

[Christine]

Actually, I've been winding the yarn correctly - counterclockwise, I guess. It was just hard to keep on the needle. I was just saying to DH the other day, "I don't know how people do this without looking!" Well, now I realize it's a lot easier to get the loop through without dropping it off the needle when you do it properly, LOL!

I realized it because Pam put a link to a video to show us how to do short rows, and I looked at it and said, "Wait a minute . . . AAAAGH!" :faint

[pamelamama]

Awww!!!

[heatherfeather]

I taught myself to knit a couple months ago and I still wonder if I'm doing it "right" or what silly/strange ways I have that would make the more experienced knitters chuckle. No one but my DH has seen me knit, so I guess I'm safe! LOL

:chin I bet you could use your 'technique' down the line when you wanted a different 'look' to your work. :pink

[CraftyMommaOf2]

I did the same thing!!! Now I don't feel so silly. ;)

[Linnea]

Pageta - I'm curious - when you say your lefty knitter knits "backwards", do you mean she knits from left to right instead of right to left? I'm a self-taught lefty as well, and that's how I do it. Doesn't seem backwards to us lefties, I guess! :D

[pmcgary]

That is generally what they mean by "left handed" knitting..
I am a lefty who knits from right to left but I bet I move my hands WAY different from most right handed knitters....

If you can learn to knit both ways you can knit back and forth (flat) w/out turning your work...I think Elizabeth Zimmerman talks about that in Knitting w/out Tears...

[Linnea]

If you can learn to knit both ways you can knit back and forth (flat) w/out turning your work...I think Elizabeth Zimmerman talks about that in Knitting w/out Tears...

HEY! I hadn't thought of that! I should give it a try, since I can knit both ways. But, all my projects are in the round!!! :chin

[pmcgary]

I was trying to remember what the benefit is - besides another way to avoid purling....

I think you can switch colors on odd numbered rows with this technique....Anyway it seems to me that the use of this was mentioned in regards to stripes...Anyone know what I am talking about?