Many people don’t realize that I’m a left handed knitter. I am very, very, very left hand dominant. Although my mom tried to teach me how to knit right handed, it just didn’t happen until one day at age 10 when we tried something different. I sat across from her and mirrored her. Once I tried it left handed I had it figured out. But that was just the beginning. Leftie knitting comes with many challenges. Here is a list of what I found to be the most common.
1. Everything is Backwards!
When I tell you everything is backwards, I mean everything.
We knit left to right so all regular tutorials are backwards to us. Which means we have to mirror everything. When making a cardigan the right front is my left front, and left front is my right front. Going cross eyed is my norm sometimes.
Charts? Yup, those are backwards for us too. But we still have to read them right to left which is the opposite of how I’m knitting which makes my brain hurt somedays. One thing I’ve learned is to save that chart onto my phone and flip it. It makes my brain hurt less.
Even our cables will be backwards. This has been one of the most interesting parts of designing for me. When sending patterns off to testers I’m always curious to see who will notice that their cables don’t match the cables in my pattern pictures.
2. A Million Questions
Whenever I knit in public or show a video of me kitting I get a ton of questions. Because people are genuinely confused and intrigued at the same time. It’s like their brains cannot compute. I’ve even had people who have been knitters for decades tell me that it’s mesmerizing to watch. So I end up spending a lot of time explaining that I’m left handed and knit backwards because of it.
This isn’t necessarily all bad though. It creates awesome engagement on my social media. And I get to chat with fellow knitters at the airport or doctor’s office or the like.
3. Where Are All The Left Handed Tutorials?
For real, where are they? Because there needs to be about a million more. Especially when we get into more difficult skills like brioche, colorwork, or intricate cables. Following right handed tutorials can be really challenging for some of the advanced skills because you have to flip everything in your mind as you do it and it’s already a hard skill to learn.
Want to know a little trick I’ve learned over the years? Get a little mirror and watch the tutorial in the mirror, not on your screen. This tip has been such a life saver for me over the years.
4. Designing Woes
If you’re a designer who is also a left handed knitter it really limits your ability to add tutorials to your patterns. You either have to take photos and flip the photos when you edit them or have someone else do a tutorial for you. I have done both, if I’m honest, and prefer the first as opposed to the latter. It allows me to control the quality better.
It is also so hard when someone messages asking for help. I can’t just make a quick video for the vast majority of people. And I always feel like I have to apologize and explain why I can’t or why I haven’t made a tutorial to accompany the pattern. Do I need to apologize? No. But I feel bad that I can’t help my fellow knitters as well as I would like to.
It’s not all bad though. Being a left handed knitter makes us great problem solvers and it makes our completed projects even more unique. So embrace your weird, all the challenges that accompany left handed knitting, and keep making beautiful fiber art. The world needs your beautiful uniqueness.
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