Knitting inside out in the round - can it be an issue?

Hello everyone :wave:!

I’ve searched the forum with some key words but haven’t found an answer that’s quite right. For those of us who knit inside out in the round (with the right side of the work inside the tube and the wrong side outside), am I correct to think that in SOME cases, it can lead to some issues following the pattern instructions? As in : the pattern assuming that the knitter is knitting “conventionally”, so if one is knitting inside out and sticks exactly to the instructions, there might be problems? It actually happened to me on two occasions. One of the patterns was a colorwork sock and, if following the instructions, I would simply not have been able to knit the heel as instructed, I was just not where I was supposed to be. It was a test knit and I got feedback on that. The other pattern was a top down yoke in reverse stockinette and lace motif (the designer assumed that the knitter would knit the sweater in regular stockinette, then turn it inside out at the end - no purling required). I remember having some issues when picking up the st for the sleeves. I am less sure that I didn’t mess up somewhere for that second pattern.

I know that most of the time, knitting inside out is no problem. That’s the way that feels good to me. I just need to remember to “flip” my work before I do a tubular B.O. (ask me how I know) or a grafting. However, it has been my experience that it CAN be at odds with pattern instructions and I can’t quite articulate why.

Any thoughts?

I agree that you should be able to flip the knitting right side out even if just to check that all is going correctly. I can see that maybe switching to knit a heel flap might cause a problem but I don’t work inside out so difficult to be sure.
One advantage is in keeping loose floats in stranded knitting when you knit inside out.
I have to think about this.

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This is fantastically timed! I knit with the tips pointing away from me too. I only started knitting when covid started and we were stuck inside for ages. I remembered my nan taught me how to cast on, and do knit and purl, that was it, but I ordered some needles and yarn and learned from there.

It seems natural to me to knit inside out, especially when doing projects in the round. You can weave in as you go, no issues with too tight colourwork. I was quite surprised when I did the Lalu scarf and someone said when I wrote it up I should say in the pattern it was knit inside out. I honestly thought everyone knitted inside out!

It’s never been an problem until a shawl a couple of projects back. It had an i-cord edge, I’ve done these plenty of times before but the wording of the hold yarn in front/back didn’t work for me. I ended up tinking back and doing it the way I know how. I realised it was because the designer knits the other way to me and that’s why it wasn’t working.

That’s the only time it’s ever been an issue for me. I pretty much only knit shawls and wraps, and a lot of mitts.

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Is it you who knits Portuguese style? If you’re working in purls mainly I can see there could be some issues. If I knit with the work inside out I’m still mostly using knits and RS is facing but on the back needles. Combination knitters have to know how to adjust decreases because the purls are oriented differently from the knits. When I knitted Portuguese I just couldn’t get it to work for me so my experience was rather limited.

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Thanks @salmonmac, if you can think of any other insights that will be super helpful! It’s usually not an issue for heel socks, it was just this one time and I feel it had to do with 1) how elaborate the motif was (pattern is ArdeNO socks by Paul Garrido) 2) the way the instructions were written (to @YarnPlease’s point: it’s not that it can’t be done at all, it’s that it can’t be done the way it’s written)

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Thank you, fellow inside-out knitter! Just like you, I tought myself how to knit during a lockdown period (no knitting relatives in my case) and I had no idea that my way was not conventional (honestly, I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong). Very helpful to know that you too came across pattern instructions that you had to adjust!

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No, I don’t knit Poruguese style (but planning to experiment with it!), I knit English style. This is just like you are describing: when I knit, the right side is facing me but on the back needle.

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Definitely not doing anything wrong. I asked a knitty friend (also started knitting in lockdown) and she knits the same way, so I don’t think it’s that uncommon.

I always read through patterns before I start them, after that shawl I will now be looking carefully at the edge, to make sure it works for me. I’ve done so many shawls with i-cord edging and this was the first time the pattern instructions had not worked.

Maybe it’s something designers could take into consideration when they write out the pattern. Much like I had to note it in the Lalu for non inside out knitters. There’s some pictures of how I knit on the scarf https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lalu-scarf You can see the colourwork and the knots, I imagine it would be a massive pita to knit it any other way than inside out.

Do you do test knits via yarnpond? If you do then and find something doesn’t quite work then let the designer know so they can reword if necessary.

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When I start toe-up socks, it seems to me I’m knitting inside out. Then it just changes to inside in. Just weird!

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I know what you mean!

I knit Portuguese style, GrumpyGramma, and am always banging on about it, so you might be thinking of me? I’m the Portuguese Knitting Bore here on the forum!!! Knitting inside out is how most Portuguese knitters knit in the round. I don’t, actually, I find it a bit complicated reading the pattern and I like seeing what I’m doing. But if you look at any of Andrea Wong’s tutorials on Peruvian or Portuguese styles, she would certainly say to knit inside out, and as Salmonmac says, I think, it’s advantageous to have the floats on the ‘outside’ so they lie flat and a little longer across the slightly larger circumference.

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DO try Portuguese style, Margs!! SO much quicker than English - I’m English, so I feel able to be negative about English style! Purling, in particular, is brilliant - easier than the knit stitch. Working out how to do some particular techniques takes a little ingenuity, but not much. Look at Andrea Wong’s site or Craftsy classes, they are really good.

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A fellow outlier. :wink: I knit Continental and use Norwegian purling. That’s my best method for more even tension and knitting without pain. I tried Portuguese and had problems. I can’t manage the yarn in my dominant, right hand and have no idea why but that’s how it is. I haven’t conquered English style for that reason. Adapting Portuguese style to hold the yarn in my left hand wasn’t a major issue, where there’s a will there’s a way after all. My main problem was losing knitting pins. I can’t stand the yarn around my neck so a pin is a must and I just lose things. Back to Continental.

The question arises about why people don’t like purling and is it because learning to purl is delayed in favor of knit stitches. In my case the answer to the question is no. I learned to purl right from the start when I gave up trying to do English throwing and learned to knit more like I crochet. For me the problem is dexterity and motor skills. The usual way of Continental purling causes me all sorts of trouble including hand and finger cramps. Norwegian purling was my solution and I no longer dislike purling. I suppose for Portuguese knitters the question about disliking working purls would be why people don’t like working knits. In another discussion (and it might not have been here) someone pointed out that working Norwegian purls bears a marked similarity to working Portuguese knits.

I lost the backing magnet on a knitting pin. I may come across it some year when I look through forgotten things. Currently the pin is stuck on the metal floor lamp by my chair. It’s been there waiting patiently for the backing magnet to reappear. Meanwhile it holds the steel hook I use for repairing mistakes in skinny yarn. That’s handy!

PS Andrea Wong is wonderful!

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I love the way we are all so different. In our likes and dislikes of all things to do with knitting - it’s perhaps one of the many things that makes it so addictively fascinating - there’s so much to learn. Un-learning is the hardest thing, though, isn’t it. And anyway, if we’ve found a method that suits us why change necessarily? It’s only if the way doesn’t suit, for whatever reason, that it’s good to experiment. The purl stitch in Portuguese genuinely is easier, because simply mechanically, you just slide the needle in from left to right with no other movement needed; whereas for the knit, you have to turn slightly to the right with your right needle and bump into the left needle very slightly, even if you work at the absolute tips of the needles. As for losing the pins, yes, well, the only trick is to have lots of them. They reappear eventually, often in the washing machine! Any magnet will do for the back of a magnetic ‘pin’ - I co-opted a fridge magnet once, it worked fine. I agree about not liking the yarn around my neck - I’ll do that in an emergency but would rather not, particularly living as I do in a tropical country. Too hot! I switched to Portuguese, somehow missing out the Continental method (not sure why) from English, which I really can’t bear. Each to his/her own! Glad you agree re Andrea Wong, GrumpyGramma.

Re dominant hands, GrumpyGramma: one of the things I love about Portuguese is how easy it is to do stranded knitting; I’ve only recently got into it (I did some gorgeous children’s socks with giraffes on them, from a Norwegian knitting pattern book), so had never used my non-dominant hand, but found it totally intuitive to knit using both hands; you would, however, have double the losing-knitting-pins problem, because you need one on each shoulder; or more, depending on how many colours you are using. But absolutely nothing tangles, and the yarn-trapping is so neat and lovely and easy. I now do quite often use my non-dominant hand even for just one-colour knitting, partly to keep in practice, partly because I really don’t much mind which I use.