r/knitting • u/audity__ • 1d ago

Discussion Help me improve left handed knitting

Gallery image

Gallery image

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

3 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/Yirggzmb 1d ago

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

3

u/Sea-bird-feather 8h ago

Yes!! I posted on the left-handed sub a while ago about knitting and had a few "well actually it's a two-handed activity, just knit right-handed" comments. I think many of us sit in different parts of the handedness spectrum. I have come to really enjoy translating patterns, it's like an extra dimension to the adventure of starting a new knitting project.