Hello,
:cheering: I love this site and have been recommending it to anyone that I have talked with that wants to learn to knit. It is so easy to follow the directions that I as a beginner can do this.
But I have been working with some of the youth in our church and want to teach them what I have learned. There are a few that are left handed. Do you have any videos on line that I could give them the address for so they are able to have some help when I am not there?
Hi! I’ve never taught a leftie to knit, but I am a knitting leftie. 
I’ve recently had to reteach myself to knit using the continental method. I’ve been using a mirrored english method for over a year and it made using other people’s patterns difficult to “translate.” For that reason, I would recommend trying to teach them a non-mirrored method to start with.
Relearning is such a drag! Maybe start with english…? That was easier for me to start with. I then switched to continental for the (eventual) speed. :oops:
I don’t think of knitting as really a “handed” activity. No matter which method you do (continental or throw) you have to use both hands anyway. I would just teach them the “regular” continental or throw way and then they never have to worry about being off on patterns.
I am left-handed person. But I was taught to knit right handed. I would say to just go ahead and teach them the right-handed way to knit, if they have no prior experience, they will be just fine learning it that way.javascript:emoticon(’
’)
it is really going to depend on the kids. i have a friend who is left handed who was “forced” to learn to knit right handed and never got it. I learned right handed with no trouble at all. My instructor basically had me learn by looking over her shoulder to mimic her movements. The one thing i would say is that if they learn right handed they will have less difficulty finding someone to help them when they get stuck and the patterns will be easier for them to follow.
I’m a right handed person and learned to knit ‘left handed’ or continental, but I also learned how to knit ‘english’ just so I knew how. I don’t know if it matters or not, but I prefer continental because it seems quicker for me, that could be because I’ve used it longer.
Holly
Im a right handed person (ok - I am really ambedexrious but I write right handed) I knit with my left hand. It was just my natural inclination.
By the way, by left handed I mean my working needle is in my left hand and my resting needle is in my right. Continental or english makes no difference here.
If a person is really inclined to use their left hand for knitting you can TRY to teach them how to use their right. But my personal experience is that doing so is ultimately a much more frustrating experience.
I know because I spent a huge number of years try to learn how to knit without even realizing that I was trying to follow right handed instructions with my working needle in my left hand. Once I figured out what I was doing I found learning easy and quick.
Knitting with the left hand is really not much of a mystery. It will take the instructor more hands on with the child because it can be confusing to verbalize “right and left”. But to me the easiest way is to just demo what you have to do. Remember that a lefty always knits clockwise. I have no idea but I suspect that this means wraps are backwards of righty knitting too. So you will have to do a little mental translation for yourself.
For example: I knit “english” style. I hold my yarn in left hand with my working needle. I wrap my yarn counter clockwise. (edited)
Does that make sense? Hope this helps!
To bad I dont have a digital video camera. I would be happy to make a video. I wonder if there is someway to reverse Amys videos? (because seen form the other side of the screen she would appear to knit with her left hand) Just a thought 
I knit the same a quirky, and whenever someone is showing me something new, they just sit in front of me and show me whatever it is I am trying to learn (so that I am seeing what they do in a mirror). I also have never ever had problems with patterns, at all(don’t really
understand all the fuss about patterns for lefties, really!!lol).
HTH
Katy
PS
As for learning, I thought I was teaching myself righty conti (cause I was holding the yarn in my left hand, so I thought conti was the way to go) but apparently I was teaching myself lefty knitting english style by reversing amy’s directions imn my mind!!
Patterns for lefties - well as of last night I didnt get the fuss either. Then I started swatching a complex braided cable pattern and I found myself floundering in a mire of “if I cable right, gee that really cables left…wait, let me try that again!”
The trouble with a braided cable pattern is that when a lefty follows righty instructions the twist is backward. So if you need your stitches to criss cross in a particular direction to actually cross one another the cross never happens. At least in my swatches so far. As a newbie knitter I might be making another mistake I havent caught yet. But following righty cable patterns do indeed make the cable twist in the opposite direction from the way the pattern is written.
I found this article on knitty - might give anyone teaching a lefty a clearer view of knitting in the lefty world http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/FEATmirror.html
There is also a link to a web site that gives reversed instructions for lefty cables. As well as teaching tips for newbie lefty knitters.