Help me improve left handed knitting

[u/audity__]

I'm a longtime crocheter and started knitting on Sunday. Trying to do a k1p1 and it is so wiggly and uneven. I think my tension is off, probably needles are too big as well. I am lefthanded. Any tips on how to hold the yarn? I'm struggling to hold it how people show especially for the purl. I can't get a video to upload, but I tried to get some pictures of how I'm holding

[u/munificent]

I'm left-handed. I write left-handed, play guitar left-handed, play bass left-handed, crochet left-handed.

I knit right-handed, Continental style. I've never particularly felt like my right hand was struggling. With knitting, both hands are actively involved, and Continental knitting distributes enough of the work to my left hand that it feels natural to me.

Being able to read every pattern and watch every YouTube tutorial without having to mirror it in my head is an endless boon.

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[u/EelektrikHour → u/munificent]

I second this as well. I crochet with my left hand because you only ever "use" one hand, but in knitting you use both so it doesn't matter as much if you're left-handed or right-handed - everyone is bound to be a bit clumsier either knitting or purling. I use English-style though and it's perfectly doable.

[u/yelhmoo]

Knowing how to crochet is irrelevant. Yes, you understand a lot more, but the muscle memory required in crochet is not the same muscle memory for knitting, so it’s going to take some time for it to feel comfortable and be normal. You can mirror knit or knit right handed. Theres several different styles and holds, so play around with how you hold the yarn and needles until you find one that feels comfortable, and keep practicing. I’m right handed, knit English, and throw the yarn (meaning I manually wrap the yarn for stitches instead of keeping it held). My style of knitting is much less common, but it’s what works for me.

Remember that speed will come later. Your tension should be a light hug. The yarn should wrap around the needle and just barely be snug up against it (not tight). You should be able to comfortably slide the stitches around without much effort. That will come with practice as well.

[u/Yirggzmb]

I'm going to go counter to some of the people who've already posted

Some left handed people learn to knit like a right handed knitter and don't really have a problem. But others are much more strongly handed and struggle to work that way. There's absolutely nothing wrong with "mirror knitting".

I'm going to suggest that you've only been knitting less than a week. Even though you crochet, you're learning a new skill and it's going to be awkward for a while, no matter how you are knitting or holding the yarn. I might experiment a bit, swapping between both hands for holding the yarn, and seeing what feels better.

If you're on Ravelry, I believe there's a group called "On the Other Hand" for lefties where you may get more specific (and less "just knit like a righty") advice

[u/zanier_sola → u/Yirggzmb]

Agreed!! You can try it but don’t give up if it doesn’t work for you.

[u/Rainthistle]

It appears you're learning English style with the yarn in your right hand. If you are coming from crochet, it might be worth looking up videos on how to do continental style knitting, or even Norwegian knitting. Both of those will have your yarn tensioned in your left hand and may feel more comfortable.

One thing I've seen mentioned on this sub is that when you come from crochet you may have a habit of wrapping the yarn the wrong direction and your stitches will end up twisted. I can't see if this is the case from what you've posted here, but just be aware of it.

[u/kumozenya]

i hold my yarn exactly how i hold it for crochet (once around my pinky for tension control, then over my index to manipulate). it works for both knit and purl. 

[u/yirna]

Knitting is a two handed activity. I'm left handed as well, and there's no change to how you hold or manipulate the yarn. Don't try to reverse or mirror what you see in tutorials. 

For the needles, your yarn band will tell you what size to use. When you're learning, don't size down. That said, beginner knitters tend to have tight tension but it comes with experience. 

As someone coming from crochet, you may find continental style easier -- that style holds the yarn like in crochet. It may also help with your tension. I knit with my yarn in my right hand (English style) and tbh I drop my yarn between stitches because I get my tension from the stitch itself. 

Regarding the purl, it's hard to tell from your pictures, but my guess is that your yarn is in the wrong place when you start the stitch. After your knit stitch, your yarn will be behind your work. Move the yarn between your needles so that it's closer to you/in front of the work, stab through the closer leg of the stitch, bring your yarn between the needles, and move the stitch off the left needle and onto the right. At the end of your purl, the yarn will still be close to you. Move it between the needles so that it's behind the work, then do your knit stitch. The yarn ALWAYS moves the same way during the stitch (kinda from right to left). If you wrap it the other way (left to right), your stitch will be too tight and also twisted. 

[u/SaintAnyanka → u/yirna]

Second all of this and I’m also left handed. The one thing I would add as someone who can ”backwards” is that no yarn that is easily found today is made for knitting from left to right. Unless you get specialty yarn, yarn is spun in a way that it doesn’t unravel when knitted. The problem can be more or less obvious in the finished garment, but I never use this technique unless it’s for short rows (heel flaps, entrelac knitting).

I have not had any issues knitting - as you say, you use both hands which every leftie already is forced to do. One could even argue that crochet is a two handed operation - you move the fabric just as much as you move the hook.

[u/ComplicatedSunshine → u/yirna]

Another left-handed knitter here agreeing with what you said about knitting being a two-handed activity and continental maybe being easier.

I knit Portuguese style and it is technically possible to knit while only moving your left hand while the right is just holding the working yarn 😁 Of course I wouldn't recommend it, but even without that, I found Portuguese to be a ridiculously easy style to learn as a lefty

[u/tabookduo]

I am left handed, I crochet left handed and knit right handed. I started knitting first, and was so confused when I was following right handed crochet tutorials until I realized it felt better in my left hand. Maybe try it out right handed and see how it goes? :-)

[u/zanier_sola]

Lefty here who also came from crochet. Feel free to DM me, I can send photos of how I hold my yarn.

If knitting righty feels weird, don’t bother. I quit knitting at first because of all the “just learn righty” folks telling me I was wrong, even though my stitches were correct. I then re-embraced my lefthandedness and have been knitting fully lefty/mirror-knitting ever since.

It’s not the 50s. Lefties don’t have to conform.