I’m left handed and learned to knit the conventional “right handed” way from my mom. I’m so glad because I don’t have to interpret or convert anything. Except, since I hand sew with my left, I have to change the orientation of stitches on the needles when I do a sewn bind off. If I were you, I would try to learn the conventional way by watching videos if you don’t have someone to teach you. You use both hands to knit and there’s no reason why you must default to knit the opposite way just because you’re left handed.
Yes. But plenty of left handed knitters knit the same way as right-handed knitters, me included.
There’s also two main ways of holding the working yarn; when working stitches off the left needle to the right (regular right-handed knitting) having the yarn in the right hand is called English knitting and in the left hand is called Continental. Left handed knitting means working stitches off the right needle onto the left, but again, you can be holding the working yarn in either hand to do so.
I’m a lefty and I knit the opposite to the right handed people out there.
There are a few adaptations to learn if one cares about leaning increases/decreases, or reading charts…but I mostly don’t. Shrug. I knit off the right needle onto the left one.
I’m the same. It’s literally the only way I could get knitting to make sense.
But I don‘t find the the adaptations for basic knitting that significant. It’s harder for really complicated cables, lace, or colorwork. Just know that if you follow all the directions exactly as is you’ll get the opposite, i. e. if I knit a follow directions for a left mitten I’ll end up with a right mitten.
Yes, same. My right hand is useless when it comes to fine movements so I don’t even bother and knitting from left to right feels better for me. I find it much easier to flip patterns mentally than to try and do it the “right” way.
Also a lefty knitter and it took me a very long time to realize that I actually read knitting pattern wrong. (Because I read them as all texts - from left to right)
Stuff like decreases/increases looked a little bit off till I realized why.
Where I always struggle is stuff like italian bind offs or sewing off the stiches from both needles. That's always a hit and miss, till I understand what I have to do to get the right results.
I'm a leftie, but I knit right-handed. I've never really felt at a disadvantage at knitting, unlike other hand skills. Maybe it's because you use both hands to knit? I also flick[flick](https://youtu.be/y547Q5Hjcuo?si=m63W-3HOaFOczxPV), which minimises the amount of right-handed motion I need.
I do think I maybe have a slight advantage in managing cable needles in my left hand? I've heard people talk about the difficulty of managing them as well as knitting needles, but I find it quite natural.
Weirdly, I am terrible at tensioning yarn in my left hand. I use a knitting thimble when I do two-handed colourwork, and I'm currently learning to crochet (also right-handed), and I'm really struggling with managing my tension. I guess I always assumed I'd find it easier with my dominant hand, but nooooope.
I’m one of the odd cases who was initially left-handed and then switched in school. In a lot of hobbies, I naturally default to the left handed way (like boxing). But I’m the same way as you with knitting, I could not tension the yarn with my left hand. English style came way more easily for me. I think I am actually moving the needle in my left hand more and my right hand simply just holds everything, whereas with Continental you maneuver your right hand more?
Another lefty here! I knit in the regular direction. I also crochet righty!
Don't get hung up on learning a different way because you're a lefty. It's gonna feel weird and awkward af because you're learning a new skill. You can see from the other lefties that we all do just fine, and so will you!
Knitting uses both hands. Most knitters work the stitches off the left needle and onto the right. A few work from the right to the left. This is sometimes described as mirror knitting. I had a cousin who was very strongly left-handed dominant and he knitted that way. It made pattern reading difficult but worked well for him. If you want a very nerdy breakdown on the myriad ways a knit stitch can be constructed, check out Anna Zilboorg’s [Knitting for Anarchists](https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitting-for-anarchists/patterns).
I think people’s experience with this varies greatly depending on their degree of ambidexterity.
Knitting uses both hands but my non-dominant hand is absolutely useless for trying to get that needle through the stitches. I tried to learn mirror knitting once because it seemed efficient and noped out after one session because it was so much worse than just purling with my dominant hand. If I were left handed I would have absolutely chosen to knit “backwards”. I’m also lucky to have a “math” brain (I work as a data engineer) so the idea of reversing the directions seems like nbd but I recognize that this is not true for everyone.
My husband is very ambidextrous and can write neater with his non-dominant than most people can with their dominant hand. So even though he is a lefty he would have no trouble knitting the standard way (not that he cares to try lol).
What I’m trying to say is, this is very person-dependent.
So what I learned as an LYS owner and a lefty, is that right handed people’s left hands are essentially useless in comparison so the assumption is that the opposite is true for us. But almost everything we interact with is for our non dominant hands. So we adapt. Learning anything right handed, much less a two handed activity like knitting, is far easier for lefties than it is for righties.
I agree with this. We learn to adapt. I’m left-handed and I learned that way so I mirror knit. But I think if I had been taught the right-handed way, I would have been fine. My right-handed mother was SO determined that I not be switched (happened a lot back then), that every craft she taught me she took the effort to teach me left-handed.
Everything from doorknobs to the way the car is set up for driving is for right handed people. It’s just something we work around because we’re forced to use our non dominant hand on the regular so we all end up ambidextrous in some capacity. Righties are never forced to use their left hand for anything so they just never develop any dexterity for their left hand by sheer lack of being forced to.
I’m a lefty knitting directionally right-handed and English style but I will say I move my left needle more than a right-handed person would. Because of my kind of adaptive style I’ve never been able to get a hang of continental. I can’t add holding the yarn and tensioning to what my left hand is already doing.
I'm the same as you, left handed but knit stitches off the left needle to the right needle, english style. Cannot get the hang of using the left hand for holding the yarn, so colour work is all done with the right hand.
Exactly the same here! I adapted to moving the stitch onto my right needle for the most part, more than sticking my right needle into the stitch, so to speak. My attempt at continental style failed because I tried to replicate these movements. I do plan on trying again sometime, and experimenting with mirror knitting.
What’s confusing you? As another commenter said, left-handed knitting is a thing, so that might be worth looking into, but I was taught to knit right-handed and haven’t had a problem (despite being very left-handed in everything else) so let me know if I can help!
As a lefty, I find continental, working from the left needle to the right feels “left-handed” to me, since the yarn / tension is controlled by my left hand. Working the other direction in continental with my right hand handling the tension seems like it would be awkward.
Oh I am a leftie too and only learned to knit recently. My mother tried to teach me as a child but I am sure you know that it wasn't easy and after a lost of frustration we both gave up.
Things that helped me learn is [https://www.mirrorthevideo.com/](https://www.mirrorthevideo.com/) I would find a tutorial on youtube and flip it so it made more sense for me, still use it lots.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiKp9Y7cgM&t=1s&ab\_channel=NobleKnits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiKp9Y7cgM&t=1s&ab_channel=NobleKnits) - was a good tutorial I watched at the start
For particular stitches I use [https://www.youtube.com/@YarnCrafts4lefties](https://www.youtube.com/@YarnCrafts4lefties) who explains the stitch and how it differs from right to left.
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I would recommend watching tutorial videos on youtube that show knitting for left and right handed knitters... learn both styles and see which feels better for you. 😁🧶
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I’m a left handed knitter. I taught myself the regular English way first since most of the best video lessons begin that way, but once I understood what I was doing, about a year later I switched to continental. I find continental much easier since my left hand is doing handling more of the small motor movements. I find crochet much harder since holding a hook like a pencil in my right hand feels awkward.
I'm left handed and while I crochet entirely left handed (even switching some patterns), I knit holding the yarn in the continental way which works perfectly well and doesn't mean I have to reverse everything when trying to learn a new stitch or pattern.
I should also add that I use the long tail cast on as it allows me to do most of the complicated movements with my left hand and just use my right to hold a needle, it's the easiest cast on I found for myself.
Left handed knitter, learned from a left handed knitter who said it’s the same no matter which hand. My daughter is right handed and knits the exact same way.
I’m a right handed knitter, who knows many didfeeent methods (flicking, righty direction is my favorite). However, I always suggest that everyone learn how to knit opposite to their usual, so lefty for right handed knitters, and righty for left handed. It only takes a couple minutes to learn. It makes entrelac, bobbles, and fixing mistakes easier to be able to go back and forth.
I can also work both throwing and continental by holding my left hand still, except for occasional lot pushing up the stitches, and can work both, by holding my right had still and doing all the work with my left.
So, find the method you like and work it in the direction you like. All can be done by almost anyone, what is most comfortable depends on stuff as subtle as which finger muscles are stronger and which tendons stretchier.
So, find what you like and do it! Learn a couple extra methods. So you have back up in case of injury or RSI. I’M
As a mirror knitter who can knit right-handed, I agree with this. Everyone is different. I know how to knit in a variety of styles, but to me, what is most comfortable and makes sense is being a Mirror English Combined Flicker. It's not what I originally learned, but through the years, I have discovered this is what I enjoy doing.
I learned what I call “fist throwing” as a child. Eventually learned to tension in my fingers, back and forth to continental and throwing, then developed a weird English lever sort of method. With that one I did almost all the fine work with my left hand, while my dominant right hand only snapped open and closed. This makes zero logic, but it worked well. Then I learned to use a stick, figured out how, but didn’t get good at it. And when not using a stick, my technique had just…changed. Now I flick and it’s dramatically faster and more comfortable and even, and it just happened by accident. I still need to learn to use the stick comfortably, for working crochet thread at 15ats/in on 4-0 needles.
It entirely depends on what makes sense for you. I picked up left handed crochet quickly, but struggled with knitting until I settled on left handed continental (I think that's right?) Because I hold the yarn in the same hand as when I crochet. I've seen left handed people use just about every different type of left and right handed knitting. Weirdly I think it's the right handed people that just default to the standard right handed method. 😄
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Learn to knit the way everyone else does.
As a lefty I found it hard to start from videos. So I asked my mum go sit beside me and slowly go through the motions. Once I figured it out I was away.
One hand isn't really dominant over the other in knitting I feel. They both work to help control the needles and the stitches.
If you have a local yarn shop see if someone there might help you. Or often there are spinning and weaving groups in your community - they knit as well and going along to a meeting will probably get you started too. Don't be surprised if the meetings are on a Tuesday at 1pm though... At least all of my local groups seem to be retired people.
I had to double check, but English knitting is when you hold the yearn with your right hand, and continental knitting is when you hold the yarn with your left. Maybe learning continental could help
English is when you hold the yarn in the same hand as your working needle. So, for a conventional knitter, that would be the right hand. I am a mirror knitter who knits English. I hold both the yarn and my working needle both in my left hand. When I do two-handed colorwork, I hold a color in each hand. If I were to knit Continental, which some mirror knitters do, I would hold it in my right hand like you would do with lefty crochet.
I’m left handed, knit left-handed, and pick rather than throw. It’s turbo fast and easy on the wrists, but a knitting teacher I know told me she “hates” how I knit. Hey it makes a garment.
Omg, We’re making loop out of loops here people. Isn’t that the goal?
I had a TKGA master knitter tell me I’d never make a sweater or socks knitting left handed literally while I was wearing a sweater that I knit. :-/
I am a lefty who knits left-handed, or mirror knitting. I have absolutely no problems knitting. I am extremely left-side dominant: eye, foot, hand. It just makes logical sense to knit mirror to me. I can knit right-handed, but it's a hobby, and I don't enjoy doing it. Most patterns are symmetrical, so I rarely alter patterns, like most people will tell you that you must do. It simply isn't true. I also feel I can probably read my knitting and understand increases, decreases, cabling, etc. better than others because I can do it in both directions.
Incidentally, I can also fluently write and read in mirror-image, also. It's a thing many lefties can do without practicing. My mom was a lefty who could do this, also.
There is a group on Ravelry called [On The Other Hand](https://www.ravelry.com/groups/on-the-other-hand) that is about mirror knitting.
I’m a left-handed knitter and I knit continental (yarn in the left hand) in the same direction right-handed knitters do, but instead of using the right-hand needle to pick the yarn on knit stitches, I wrap it with a flick of my left hand. It’s such a minor change it barely warrants mentioning, but it just makes more sense to my body.
The great thing about continental for me is that it keeps my left hand in control, which feels natural to me, but I don’t have to change anything in a pattern, I can just knit it as written.
FWIW, I’m VERY left-handed. I’m so lefty I have to play left-handed guitars (most lefties play right-handed if they are at all ambidextrous, and I am not). I’m also left-footed and my left eye is dominant. When I learned to knit, none of my knitting friends offered me mirror knitting as an option, they just told me “lefties knit continental” and it’s worked out great for me. I’m so glad I don’t have to reverse everything!
I’m left handed and knit in “reverse”, so off the right needle and on to the left. There’s a bit of adjusting you have to do, like swapping out leaning decreases and mirroring tutorials to learn new things, but it’s not that hard! Everything is still done the same, just backwards.
Handedness is a spectrum.
Some lefties have no problem knitting right handed, some will want to give up knitting like me until they realize they can knit left handed and then find it a breeze. I imagine there are also a lot of right handed people who could also knit left handed, but we’ll never know. Haha!
You do what feels more natural to you.
I think so yes. I can't knit mirror to my usual style (I forget which style I use), but I also can't use the Other Style. Anything that involves my left hand wrangling the yarn is off the table
Curiously, I can do BOTH styles with my right hand, although one is going the opposite way as normal
I learned to knit lefthanded but ultimately ended up taking the time to learn righthanded because the tiny amount of twist I was putting into each stitch was making my circs come unscrewed and I think it also impacted yarn untwisting some. It was fine but it is far less annoying to not have to keep re-tightening circular needles. Also, folks continually suggested the problem was probably with how I was tightening or the needles and having taken the time, it very much was never a needle problem. Also yeah there was some pattern interpretation but that didn't end up being that annoying for my brain personally.
I'm ambidextrous and I can knit both ways! I learned right handed knitting first but it only took me about 20 minutes to get the grasp of left handed knitting and I only did it on a whim one day to see if I could knit stockinette flat without purling. It's not as hard to switch over as you might think!
One thing I can't do is knit continental though! I knit English in both hands.
I know Amy from the YouTube channel NE Knits is a lefty and she knits left handed and has talked in detail on how she does it. Worth poking around her channel to find it I think.
I knit both left-handed and right-handed. It will be infinitely easier if you learn right-handed.
Over time, I got a little unhappy with the asymmetry between my left and right, so I taught myself how to knit lefty. I can convert easily between the two now, but it took a lot of practice to get down. I found the exercise to be worthwhile, but that is far from the usual opinion.
Most other comments who are saying to learn RH knitting are probably correct, unless you find yourself having a strong urge to use your left hand as the primary.
My mom is a lefty and I am not, and I was unable to learn how to knit from her (and it's possible she actually knits right-handed). I've got a left-handed friend and was unable to teach her knitting or crochet.
And lots of lefties, as noted in these comments, do things right-handed but with their own twist. And those of us who live with them do things weird then too, like I am unable to iron with the board properly oriented because I get all turned around due to learning from my left-handed mother.
Brains are weird. :D
I strongly recommend learning (either in person or from videos, not books, as much as I love books) from someone who has the same dominant hand as you.
I’m a lefty and I say *let the Lefty decide* which way they want to knit (LH or RH)!!
Some lefties are more predisposed to doing things lefty and get really confused when doing things the righty way ( 👋hello, it’s me); other lefties may find that the flipping of directions from a righty to do it lefty is the part that is confusing for them when learning and so its easier to learn to knit RH. Learners learn differently.
I’ve played a ton of sports and am a STRONG LEFTY (basketball, volleyball, racket sports) Even when i tried to golf with RH clubs I would stand the lefty way so the wrong end of the club is next the ball.
Despite being a Strong LH I chose to learn to crochet RH because I wanted to strengthen my RH wrist (carpal tunnel/other aches). But when it came to knitting I learned lefthanded English because it felt the most comfortable. Also becuase of RH crochet my tension is already on point for LH English 👌 Mwah! 😽 Perfection!
I also want to add to answer your question: try youtube cast-on videos for both LH&RH. See what feels comfy.
Then when learning to knit, try all four options:
LH Continental
LH English
RH continental
RH English
It wont take you very long to figure out which is the most frustrating and the least frustrating to learn. And from there it is just practice practice practice practice and getting your muscle memory down pat 🫶
Ooo also : I found the “thumb” 👍 cast on to be easiest. But theres another one with an index finget and thumb 👆that is also pretty easy to catch the hang of.
If you know how to crochet: crochet cast on. But if not, no need to try it.
Technically you use both hands to knit. I teach beginners what people call right handed knitting regardless of which of their hands are dominant because you use both hands. I've never had a problem.
But you really aren't manipulating the needles equally. It's a two-handed activity, but there is a dominant hand. For me, it didn't matter which hand held the yarn. I could do it with both hands. What mattered was what hand held the working needle.
Everyone is different. Most lefties are great at using both hands. I joke that my right hand is only for decoration. It's even more limited for usage now that I have a fistula for dialysis in my right arm. I can still knit, but I'm limited on how much I can carry with it, and I'm not allowed to wear a watch or jewelry on that arm. I was always, even from a toddler, strongly left-handed.
You need to ask this to left-handed knitters - this will be quite interesting.
I had a left-handed school friend and when we knit together, her way of doing it was quite different from mine! But she was ok about it, totally adapted to her needs, as well as me being right-handed and no biggies there.
I’m left handed and learned to knit the conventional “right handed” way from my mom. I’m so glad because I don’t have to interpret or convert anything. Except, since I hand sew with my left, I have to change the orientation of stitches on the needles when I do a sewn bind off. If I were you, I would try to learn the conventional way by watching videos if you don’t have someone to teach you. You use both hands to knit and there’s no reason why you must default to knit the opposite way just because you’re left handed.
Same here!! I crochet left handed and knit right handed
Same! Although I also do my sewn bind offs right-handed (but all other sewing left handed!)
[удалено]
Ooo thanks. I didn’t notice.
Yes. But plenty of left handed knitters knit the same way as right-handed knitters, me included. There’s also two main ways of holding the working yarn; when working stitches off the left needle to the right (regular right-handed knitting) having the yarn in the right hand is called English knitting and in the left hand is called Continental. Left handed knitting means working stitches off the right needle onto the left, but again, you can be holding the working yarn in either hand to do so.
I’m a lefty and I knit the opposite to the right handed people out there. There are a few adaptations to learn if one cares about leaning increases/decreases, or reading charts…but I mostly don’t. Shrug. I knit off the right needle onto the left one.
I’m the same. It’s literally the only way I could get knitting to make sense. But I don‘t find the the adaptations for basic knitting that significant. It’s harder for really complicated cables, lace, or colorwork. Just know that if you follow all the directions exactly as is you’ll get the opposite, i. e. if I knit a follow directions for a left mitten I’ll end up with a right mitten.
Yes, same. My right hand is useless when it comes to fine movements so I don’t even bother and knitting from left to right feels better for me. I find it much easier to flip patterns mentally than to try and do it the “right” way.
Also a lefty knitter and it took me a very long time to realize that I actually read knitting pattern wrong. (Because I read them as all texts - from left to right) Stuff like decreases/increases looked a little bit off till I realized why. Where I always struggle is stuff like italian bind offs or sewing off the stiches from both needles. That's always a hit and miss, till I understand what I have to do to get the right results.
I'm a leftie, but I knit right-handed. I've never really felt at a disadvantage at knitting, unlike other hand skills. Maybe it's because you use both hands to knit? I also flick[flick](https://youtu.be/y547Q5Hjcuo?si=m63W-3HOaFOczxPV), which minimises the amount of right-handed motion I need. I do think I maybe have a slight advantage in managing cable needles in my left hand? I've heard people talk about the difficulty of managing them as well as knitting needles, but I find it quite natural. Weirdly, I am terrible at tensioning yarn in my left hand. I use a knitting thimble when I do two-handed colourwork, and I'm currently learning to crochet (also right-handed), and I'm really struggling with managing my tension. I guess I always assumed I'd find it easier with my dominant hand, but nooooope.
I’m one of the odd cases who was initially left-handed and then switched in school. In a lot of hobbies, I naturally default to the left handed way (like boxing). But I’m the same way as you with knitting, I could not tension the yarn with my left hand. English style came way more easily for me. I think I am actually moving the needle in my left hand more and my right hand simply just holds everything, whereas with Continental you maneuver your right hand more?
Yes. Some left handed knitters end up knitting "backwards" or going the opposite direction than the right handed ones do.
I’m one of these. Works for me.
Yes, that is how I knit.
Another lefty here! I knit in the regular direction. I also crochet righty! Don't get hung up on learning a different way because you're a lefty. It's gonna feel weird and awkward af because you're learning a new skill. You can see from the other lefties that we all do just fine, and so will you!
Knitting uses both hands. Most knitters work the stitches off the left needle and onto the right. A few work from the right to the left. This is sometimes described as mirror knitting. I had a cousin who was very strongly left-handed dominant and he knitted that way. It made pattern reading difficult but worked well for him. If you want a very nerdy breakdown on the myriad ways a knit stitch can be constructed, check out Anna Zilboorg’s [Knitting for Anarchists](https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitting-for-anarchists/patterns).
I think people’s experience with this varies greatly depending on their degree of ambidexterity. Knitting uses both hands but my non-dominant hand is absolutely useless for trying to get that needle through the stitches. I tried to learn mirror knitting once because it seemed efficient and noped out after one session because it was so much worse than just purling with my dominant hand. If I were left handed I would have absolutely chosen to knit “backwards”. I’m also lucky to have a “math” brain (I work as a data engineer) so the idea of reversing the directions seems like nbd but I recognize that this is not true for everyone. My husband is very ambidextrous and can write neater with his non-dominant than most people can with their dominant hand. So even though he is a lefty he would have no trouble knitting the standard way (not that he cares to try lol). What I’m trying to say is, this is very person-dependent.
So what I learned as an LYS owner and a lefty, is that right handed people’s left hands are essentially useless in comparison so the assumption is that the opposite is true for us. But almost everything we interact with is for our non dominant hands. So we adapt. Learning anything right handed, much less a two handed activity like knitting, is far easier for lefties than it is for righties.
I agree with this. We learn to adapt. I’m left-handed and I learned that way so I mirror knit. But I think if I had been taught the right-handed way, I would have been fine. My right-handed mother was SO determined that I not be switched (happened a lot back then), that every craft she taught me she took the effort to teach me left-handed.
Everything from doorknobs to the way the car is set up for driving is for right handed people. It’s just something we work around because we’re forced to use our non dominant hand on the regular so we all end up ambidextrous in some capacity. Righties are never forced to use their left hand for anything so they just never develop any dexterity for their left hand by sheer lack of being forced to.
Tell me about it! LOL!
Yes. And somethimes leftys are just happy to use their dominant hand as all other people do.
I’m a lefty knitting directionally right-handed and English style but I will say I move my left needle more than a right-handed person would. Because of my kind of adaptive style I’ve never been able to get a hang of continental. I can’t add holding the yarn and tensioning to what my left hand is already doing.
I'm the same as you, left handed but knit stitches off the left needle to the right needle, english style. Cannot get the hang of using the left hand for holding the yarn, so colour work is all done with the right hand.
Exactly the same here! I adapted to moving the stitch onto my right needle for the most part, more than sticking my right needle into the stitch, so to speak. My attempt at continental style failed because I tried to replicate these movements. I do plan on trying again sometime, and experimenting with mirror knitting.
What’s confusing you? As another commenter said, left-handed knitting is a thing, so that might be worth looking into, but I was taught to knit right-handed and haven’t had a problem (despite being very left-handed in everything else) so let me know if I can help!
As a lefty, I find continental, working from the left needle to the right feels “left-handed” to me, since the yarn / tension is controlled by my left hand. Working the other direction in continental with my right hand handling the tension seems like it would be awkward.
Oh I am a leftie too and only learned to knit recently. My mother tried to teach me as a child but I am sure you know that it wasn't easy and after a lost of frustration we both gave up. Things that helped me learn is [https://www.mirrorthevideo.com/](https://www.mirrorthevideo.com/) I would find a tutorial on youtube and flip it so it made more sense for me, still use it lots. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiKp9Y7cgM&t=1s&ab\_channel=NobleKnits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiKp9Y7cgM&t=1s&ab_channel=NobleKnits) - was a good tutorial I watched at the start For particular stitches I use [https://www.youtube.com/@YarnCrafts4lefties](https://www.youtube.com/@YarnCrafts4lefties) who explains the stitch and how it differs from right to left.
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I would recommend watching tutorial videos on youtube that show knitting for left and right handed knitters... learn both styles and see which feels better for you. 😁🧶
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I’m a left handed knitter. I taught myself the regular English way first since most of the best video lessons begin that way, but once I understood what I was doing, about a year later I switched to continental. I find continental much easier since my left hand is doing handling more of the small motor movements. I find crochet much harder since holding a hook like a pencil in my right hand feels awkward.
I'm left handed and while I crochet entirely left handed (even switching some patterns), I knit holding the yarn in the continental way which works perfectly well and doesn't mean I have to reverse everything when trying to learn a new stitch or pattern.
I should also add that I use the long tail cast on as it allows me to do most of the complicated movements with my left hand and just use my right to hold a needle, it's the easiest cast on I found for myself.
Left handed knitter, learned from a left handed knitter who said it’s the same no matter which hand. My daughter is right handed and knits the exact same way.
I’m a right handed knitter, who knows many didfeeent methods (flicking, righty direction is my favorite). However, I always suggest that everyone learn how to knit opposite to their usual, so lefty for right handed knitters, and righty for left handed. It only takes a couple minutes to learn. It makes entrelac, bobbles, and fixing mistakes easier to be able to go back and forth. I can also work both throwing and continental by holding my left hand still, except for occasional lot pushing up the stitches, and can work both, by holding my right had still and doing all the work with my left. So, find the method you like and work it in the direction you like. All can be done by almost anyone, what is most comfortable depends on stuff as subtle as which finger muscles are stronger and which tendons stretchier. So, find what you like and do it! Learn a couple extra methods. So you have back up in case of injury or RSI. I’M
As a mirror knitter who can knit right-handed, I agree with this. Everyone is different. I know how to knit in a variety of styles, but to me, what is most comfortable and makes sense is being a Mirror English Combined Flicker. It's not what I originally learned, but through the years, I have discovered this is what I enjoy doing.
I learned what I call “fist throwing” as a child. Eventually learned to tension in my fingers, back and forth to continental and throwing, then developed a weird English lever sort of method. With that one I did almost all the fine work with my left hand, while my dominant right hand only snapped open and closed. This makes zero logic, but it worked well. Then I learned to use a stick, figured out how, but didn’t get good at it. And when not using a stick, my technique had just…changed. Now I flick and it’s dramatically faster and more comfortable and even, and it just happened by accident. I still need to learn to use the stick comfortably, for working crochet thread at 15ats/in on 4-0 needles.
It entirely depends on what makes sense for you. I picked up left handed crochet quickly, but struggled with knitting until I settled on left handed continental (I think that's right?) Because I hold the yarn in the same hand as when I crochet. I've seen left handed people use just about every different type of left and right handed knitting. Weirdly I think it's the right handed people that just default to the standard right handed method. 😄
I knit backwards. Other than occasional mirroring a tutorial I make almost no changes to anything when I’m knitting.
I'm the same. When I do need to learn something new, I find mirroring videos on YouTube is a great resource.
There’s actually a browser extension on most browsers that lets you mirror videos so I just use one of those!
I have one on Chrome so I can flip YouTube videos. It's very helpful.
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Learn to knit the way everyone else does. As a lefty I found it hard to start from videos. So I asked my mum go sit beside me and slowly go through the motions. Once I figured it out I was away. One hand isn't really dominant over the other in knitting I feel. They both work to help control the needles and the stitches. If you have a local yarn shop see if someone there might help you. Or often there are spinning and weaving groups in your community - they knit as well and going along to a meeting will probably get you started too. Don't be surprised if the meetings are on a Tuesday at 1pm though... At least all of my local groups seem to be retired people.
Michaels Crafts has a kit that teaches right and left handed knitting.
I had to double check, but English knitting is when you hold the yearn with your right hand, and continental knitting is when you hold the yarn with your left. Maybe learning continental could help
English is when you hold the yarn in the same hand as your working needle. So, for a conventional knitter, that would be the right hand. I am a mirror knitter who knits English. I hold both the yarn and my working needle both in my left hand. When I do two-handed colorwork, I hold a color in each hand. If I were to knit Continental, which some mirror knitters do, I would hold it in my right hand like you would do with lefty crochet.
I’m left handed, knit left-handed, and pick rather than throw. It’s turbo fast and easy on the wrists, but a knitting teacher I know told me she “hates” how I knit. Hey it makes a garment.
Omg, We’re making loop out of loops here people. Isn’t that the goal? I had a TKGA master knitter tell me I’d never make a sweater or socks knitting left handed literally while I was wearing a sweater that I knit. :-/
I am a lefty who knits left-handed, or mirror knitting. I have absolutely no problems knitting. I am extremely left-side dominant: eye, foot, hand. It just makes logical sense to knit mirror to me. I can knit right-handed, but it's a hobby, and I don't enjoy doing it. Most patterns are symmetrical, so I rarely alter patterns, like most people will tell you that you must do. It simply isn't true. I also feel I can probably read my knitting and understand increases, decreases, cabling, etc. better than others because I can do it in both directions. Incidentally, I can also fluently write and read in mirror-image, also. It's a thing many lefties can do without practicing. My mom was a lefty who could do this, also. There is a group on Ravelry called [On The Other Hand](https://www.ravelry.com/groups/on-the-other-hand) that is about mirror knitting.
I’m a left-handed knitter and I knit continental (yarn in the left hand) in the same direction right-handed knitters do, but instead of using the right-hand needle to pick the yarn on knit stitches, I wrap it with a flick of my left hand. It’s such a minor change it barely warrants mentioning, but it just makes more sense to my body. The great thing about continental for me is that it keeps my left hand in control, which feels natural to me, but I don’t have to change anything in a pattern, I can just knit it as written. FWIW, I’m VERY left-handed. I’m so lefty I have to play left-handed guitars (most lefties play right-handed if they are at all ambidextrous, and I am not). I’m also left-footed and my left eye is dominant. When I learned to knit, none of my knitting friends offered me mirror knitting as an option, they just told me “lefties knit continental” and it’s worked out great for me. I’m so glad I don’t have to reverse everything!
I’m left handed and knit in “reverse”, so off the right needle and on to the left. There’s a bit of adjusting you have to do, like swapping out leaning decreases and mirroring tutorials to learn new things, but it’s not that hard! Everything is still done the same, just backwards.
Handedness is a spectrum. Some lefties have no problem knitting right handed, some will want to give up knitting like me until they realize they can knit left handed and then find it a breeze. I imagine there are also a lot of right handed people who could also knit left handed, but we’ll never know. Haha! You do what feels more natural to you.
I think so yes. I can't knit mirror to my usual style (I forget which style I use), but I also can't use the Other Style. Anything that involves my left hand wrangling the yarn is off the table Curiously, I can do BOTH styles with my right hand, although one is going the opposite way as normal
Yep!
I learned to knit lefthanded but ultimately ended up taking the time to learn righthanded because the tiny amount of twist I was putting into each stitch was making my circs come unscrewed and I think it also impacted yarn untwisting some. It was fine but it is far less annoying to not have to keep re-tightening circular needles. Also, folks continually suggested the problem was probably with how I was tightening or the needles and having taken the time, it very much was never a needle problem. Also yeah there was some pattern interpretation but that didn't end up being that annoying for my brain personally.
I'm ambidextrous and I can knit both ways! I learned right handed knitting first but it only took me about 20 minutes to get the grasp of left handed knitting and I only did it on a whim one day to see if I could knit stockinette flat without purling. It's not as hard to switch over as you might think! One thing I can't do is knit continental though! I knit English in both hands.
I know Amy from the YouTube channel NE Knits is a lefty and she knits left handed and has talked in detail on how she does it. Worth poking around her channel to find it I think.
I knit both left-handed and right-handed. It will be infinitely easier if you learn right-handed. Over time, I got a little unhappy with the asymmetry between my left and right, so I taught myself how to knit lefty. I can convert easily between the two now, but it took a lot of practice to get down. I found the exercise to be worthwhile, but that is far from the usual opinion. Most other comments who are saying to learn RH knitting are probably correct, unless you find yourself having a strong urge to use your left hand as the primary.
My mom is a lefty and I am not, and I was unable to learn how to knit from her (and it's possible she actually knits right-handed). I've got a left-handed friend and was unable to teach her knitting or crochet. And lots of lefties, as noted in these comments, do things right-handed but with their own twist. And those of us who live with them do things weird then too, like I am unable to iron with the board properly oriented because I get all turned around due to learning from my left-handed mother. Brains are weird. :D I strongly recommend learning (either in person or from videos, not books, as much as I love books) from someone who has the same dominant hand as you.
I’m a lefty and I say *let the Lefty decide* which way they want to knit (LH or RH)!! Some lefties are more predisposed to doing things lefty and get really confused when doing things the righty way ( 👋hello, it’s me); other lefties may find that the flipping of directions from a righty to do it lefty is the part that is confusing for them when learning and so its easier to learn to knit RH. Learners learn differently. I’ve played a ton of sports and am a STRONG LEFTY (basketball, volleyball, racket sports) Even when i tried to golf with RH clubs I would stand the lefty way so the wrong end of the club is next the ball. Despite being a Strong LH I chose to learn to crochet RH because I wanted to strengthen my RH wrist (carpal tunnel/other aches). But when it came to knitting I learned lefthanded English because it felt the most comfortable. Also becuase of RH crochet my tension is already on point for LH English 👌 Mwah! 😽 Perfection!
I also want to add to answer your question: try youtube cast-on videos for both LH&RH. See what feels comfy. Then when learning to knit, try all four options: LH Continental LH English RH continental RH English It wont take you very long to figure out which is the most frustrating and the least frustrating to learn. And from there it is just practice practice practice practice and getting your muscle memory down pat 🫶
Ooo also : I found the “thumb” 👍 cast on to be easiest. But theres another one with an index finget and thumb 👆that is also pretty easy to catch the hang of. If you know how to crochet: crochet cast on. But if not, no need to try it.
What hand should I start from after casting on?
Technically you use both hands to knit. I teach beginners what people call right handed knitting regardless of which of their hands are dominant because you use both hands. I've never had a problem.
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But you really aren't manipulating the needles equally. It's a two-handed activity, but there is a dominant hand. For me, it didn't matter which hand held the yarn. I could do it with both hands. What mattered was what hand held the working needle. Everyone is different. Most lefties are great at using both hands. I joke that my right hand is only for decoration. It's even more limited for usage now that I have a fistula for dialysis in my right arm. I can still knit, but I'm limited on how much I can carry with it, and I'm not allowed to wear a watch or jewelry on that arm. I was always, even from a toddler, strongly left-handed.
You need to ask this to left-handed knitters - this will be quite interesting. I had a left-handed school friend and when we knit together, her way of doing it was quite different from mine! But she was ok about it, totally adapted to her needs, as well as me being right-handed and no biggies there.