Knitting - have you heard of this? What is it called?

[Flossyfloof]

Just been having tea with a friend who was telling me she knows someone who knits holding the wool in her left hand and knits frontwards and backwards, without turning the work. Palm I making sense? I have never heard of this, have you?

holding in the left hand is usually called continental knitting (or picking rather than throwing) - i actually do this when i do stranded knitting because i hold one thread of yarn in each hand

i have heard of people who can knit and purl "backwards" but have never attempted it myself - google threw up these instructions on knitty.com. apparently knitting backwards can make entrelac quicker (i've never tried that either)

My mum used to do the one colour in each hand thing for stranded knitting - having been first taught the continental knitting method by a German aunt and then the 'proper' way by a teacher at school ("We don't knit in that FOREIGN way here!")

I remember watching her knitting once and realising she wasn't turning the work, but I don't know exactly how she did it - possibly like this:

I think it's called mirror knitting when you go back the other way. It's what lefthanders do (I mean lefthanders who knit lefthanded. I'm a lefthander who knits righthanded myself).

Continental knitting is just another way of holding the yarn. It doesn't of itself change that you need to turn the work.