i’m new to the forum, but not new to knittinghelp.com…i wanted to learn how to knit a few years ago and asked a friend of mine to show me…problem was – she was right-handed, i am left-handed, and we just confused each other!
so i grabbed a mirror and literally learned by watching the videos on knittinghelp.com. i’ve done many scarves and had a good time doing it, but, last year, when i wanted to finally learn more than just the knit stitch, i asked a woman who had been knitting 40+ years…she watched me knit, and then told me i was the third person ever over all her knitting time who knits the way i do…MIRROR IMAGE!!
so now i have NO idea what stitch i am actually knitting, and i have no idea how to move forward…my “knit” stitch works fine for me and my scarves…but now i’m wanting to read patterns, and i’m so confused!
HELP! is anyone else in my shoes? any advice (besides starting over!) that would help me?
You should be able to follow a pattern fine, your work will just come out knit from the other end of the row. The only thing you need to watch out for is the decs. In right to left knitting a ssk/skp leans to the left and k2tog leans to the right. I think it’s opposite for you, so when you see a dec in the pattern, swap them.
Hi there, I’m a leftie mirror image knitter too! Don’t panic. Mostly things work fine by simply reading the patterns as written. All that happens is your finished item comes out mirror imaged of the written pattern. So, for example, if you’re knitting a cardigan, the left side turns out to be the right side and the ride side the left side and as long as you do one of each your good!
Please ignore the post above about changing decreases (sorry to the person who wrote it!). If you are following a written pattern, follow the inc/dec as written. They will slant the opposite way to a right handed person, but you are also knitting the row the opposite way so that is what you want to happen.
I suggest you continue with written patterns for now and don’t try charts just yet. This is when you have to start working out which way increases/decreases go.
Please yell out for any other help…I’m still learning too, but going in the right (or left!!!) direction. I just wish more designers recognised us lefties! The only other thing you need to watch is where the pattern refers to the left or right needle, make sure you swap this. For example, sometimes, it says something like, “leaving the stitch on the left hand needle”. Read this as right hand needle and it will make sense!
thanks so much for the responses! (and sorry for delay in checking back in…i just got internet connection at home this week!)
i actually learned “my” purl stitch yesterday from someone who could manage to make out what i was doing, so i’m going to sit back and practice that first (gosh, it’s sooo clumsy until your hands get their rhythms down!)
i’m still very intimidated by patterns and terms…i must admit that much of what i read from the responses went right over my head! i’m a sloooow learner.
