Rodney

Badlandslady, welcome!
Treadling backward doesn't sound right to me. I think you'll just end up with a mess.
The wheel might have a little tab that you move instead of a separate knob to turn to put it in bobbin winding mode. There were at least a couple different systems used over the years.
Does your machine have the bobbin winder or is it missing?
If it doesn't have one, you may need to either find one from somewhere like Ebay or buy a Sidewinder to wind them on.
Rodney