When I first saw the Peerie Leaves Jumper by Donna Smith on Instagram I knew it would be the first project of the 2020 Shetland Wool Week Annual that I would knit. When the Annual arrived in November I checked the specifications and realized I had a yarn in the stash that would work perfectly. The yarn is from Kimmet Croft Fibers in Wisconsin. It’s a lovely blend of merino and angora rabbit in a DK weight yarn. I didn’t know then that I’d be adding a knitting trick to my arsenal.
Shetland Wool Week photo
Having worked the Peerie Leaves Jumper in the round for several months, by early January I had reached the portion of the sweater body that called for separating the front from the back and working flat from the armhole toward the neck.
I prefer to avoid purling for any length of time as it makes my hands ache. So with this project I decided to see if I could teach myself the Knitting Back Backwards technique. The video below is a demonstration of how it is done – by a beginner. I have seen friends do the technique with speed and ease. Let’s be honest, that takes practice just as learning to knit, do cables, do fine lace, or any other task takes practice.
Will I keep doing it? Absolutely. You might want to give it a try too!
This little trick is the secret to the Strandwanderer scarf pattern. It only requires knitting three stitches backwards and it speeds up the project significantly. I wonder how it would work when doing knitting stranded colorwork flat rather than in the round?