Is there anyone out there who knits as I do? I am experiencing more and more problems with my knitting projects. Can someone more experienced then myself please help out? I am knitting a top down sweater that starts out on circular needles going back and forth as on straight needles. About 10 inches down it is joined and rounds are now being worked. There is a definite change in the stitches; they appear twisted. But, not as in twisted from joining. There is a clearly new stitch difference. I have been to two very experienced ladies and neither one can figure out what I have done differently. It has to do with my knitting lefthanded. I have knitted this way for 25 years! Help.
I knit the Continental Method which I use my left hand… Amy has this video on it to see if we are doing it the same
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/knit.php
I’m wondering though when you join are the sts becoming twisted… or was the top part on straights was it stockinette st where you knitted one row then purled the following row? or was it just all knit? if it was just all knit then when you joined in the round it would be different cause you would be doing Stockinette St… but if the first rows were done as stockinette st then it shold be the same… unless when you joined you are now doing the work on the wrong side… meaning your stockinette st is now on the wrong side instead of the right side… 
can you post a phot of it and I’m sure someone here can help ya 
Thanks so much for your reply! The top down sweater started out in St. st stitch going back and forth on circular needles. It was then joined on the same needles. The front of the fabric shows the different stitch and the back is garter stitch.
I think I too knit like you, but am a fairly new knitter, so not super clear on all the knitting terms. I knit left and hold the yarn in my left and find I need to do some stitches a little differently and wraps to get the same effect.
I knit as often as I can on circulars, and do not notice that I need to do anything different to the yarn direction whether I am in going straight or in the round. But if I get a purl row wrapped backwards, it will throw off the next knit row. It took me quite awhile of playing with different wrap methods to find one that didn’t twist the stitch. I don’t know if this is what happened to you, but that is my only thought, since I am such a newbie.
The way I wrap for my purl is I go between the needles and then around to the front. For my knit, I come from behind the needle and end between the two needles. Hope this helps.
If by left-handed you mean that you carry the yarn in your left hand but still knit stitches off the left needle on to the right, then I’m guessing that you wrap the yarn around the needle in one direction when you purl and in the other when you knit. That would cause fabric produced flat to look different from fabric produced in the round.
Both knit and purl should be wrapped counterclockwise in conventional Western knitting. Many left-hand-carry (referred to as Continental) knitters wrap the ‘wrong’ way when purling because it’s easier. MUCH easier. They either compensate by knitting through the back loop to untwist the stitch on the next row. or go through life happy with fabric where alternate rows of stocking stitch are twisted.
When knitting in the round, though, you are no longer alternating between knit and purl. So either you don’t twist-untwist or you’re suddenly confronted with fabric that looks the same from row to row where what you produced in the flat has alternate rows of twisted stitches.
If, however, you mean that you knit stitches off the right needle on to the left one, I find it so mind boggling to contemplate that I can’t venture a guess on which direction anything else should be done. :doh:
Thank you for your replies. I am truly a lwft hand knitter. It is not just holding the yarn in the left hand, it involves working all stitches and rows in the opposite direction from a right hand person. I have sat down with so many right hand knitters and watched the way they work their stitches that I am overwhelmed with the way I have knitted for so many years. My projects have come out truly all right, until someone in the know looks at them close up. It is very difficult for me to work as a right hand knitter. There is definitely a difference in the top down sweater when I went from knitting the rows back and forth on the circular needles to the point of joining the rows 10 inches down. the knits stitches are not in the proper position on the needle. Even if I untwisted the stitches for a round, the next round is still twisted. I have tried to work from the inside and purl, I have tried to do the knitting as a right hand person, but, nothing I have done so far has worked out correctly. I am grateful for your help. Cindy
I am a true Left Handed knitter. I do not knit continental. My working yarn is in my left hand and I work off the needle in my right hand…so the exact opposite of a true right handed knitter. Cast on stiches are on right needle and I use left needle to go into the stitch.
Yes, we need to work our patterns a bit differently. The is a great site for true left handed knitter. If I’m allowed to post a link…I will.
I’m just learning myself. I’ve completed a ribbon yarn angle poncho - adorable and am currently working on my first felted bag (finding I’m alergic to wool :(.
First I just have to say…I was coming to post something about being a left handed knitter!
I load cast ons into the right needle and knit into the left. I was coming to ask if anyone thought it really needed to learn to go the other way. Mostly for patterns. I sometimes have to switch to get the correct slant. If it calls for a skp i might need to k2tog or vise versa depending on which side fo the work I am on or something anyway…
My guess is that your purls your wrapping differntly. I wrap both knits and purls clockwise. I can make it work if I wrapped the purl the other way but it doesnt work right in my hand. I have not done somethign that worked back and fore and then into circular though. Maybe I’ll have to try it when I have a chance, not that I will help much for you now.
Do yo have issues with getting slants to go the right way?