lefty/righty knit or crochet? Do you do both?

[Donnachaidh]

I should explain this.

I crochet *rightie* and knit *leftie*. Learned one from a right-handed grandmother, the other from a left-handed Mom.

And it usually drives other crafty friends nuts that I can do this. Does anyone else do this? I'm curious.

[Katherine Brengle]

1. I've heard others say that --

I don't know crochet, but I am doubtful I could do much with my left hand lol.

[Donnachaidh]

3. you'd be surprised

When I first wanted to learn how to crochet, my mother didn't know how to. But Nana did. And she started showing me her way of doing it. It wasn't till after I'd learned the basic stitches that I realized I was doing it right handed!

My Mom could knit, but left-handed. So, she started to teach me left-handed, because I am a leftie. I picked that up easily too.

But then my Mom wanted to learn how to crochet. She had to sit across from me, to watch me like a mirror image, and then I was able to teach her to crochet. And she learned left-handed.

Weird, huh?

[Warpy]

2. Do you mean Continental style

or do you actually repeat the motions of English knitting with your left hand?

I started out knitting English style until my first 3 color project. I discovered how much faster it was to knit the yarn held in my left hand and another Continental style knitter was born.

I'm trying to learn stockinette stitch from the left side of the work to the right, yarn held in right hand, but it's a slow process. It'll save turning flat work around between knit and purl rows if I manage it.

[Donnachaidh]

4. I would have to review what those styles are - it's been awhile

From your description I guess I would be a Continental knitter, also.

[Raksha]

5. You're obviously ambidextrous. I could never do that.

I'm VERY left-handed, and I knit and crochet left-handed. When I say "I knit left-handed" I don't mean I do Continental-style knitting, carrying the yarn on my left hand. What I do is true mirror-image knitting, holding my working needle in my left hand and working from left to right, the same direction as we read English, not right to left as you read Hebrew. I understand that many lefties knit this way but I'm just not one of them.

I usually knit English-style, holding the yarn in my left hand also unless I'm doing two-color knitting. Then I hold the contrasting color yarn in my right hand the same as I do for crochet, and work Continental-style. For me "Continental style" means using the hand that isn't holding the working needle (which is my left hand), not the one that is.

[Donnachaidh]

6. actually, I'm not sure I'm ambidextrous, because I'm terribly left-handed

in all other things.

My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was in the 6th grade. It was a huge fad back then for the other girls, and I was intent on learning it. As Nana was the only one in the house to do it, we just sat down and did it. Neither of us realized until later that I was doing it *rightie*.

I've tried to switch myself over to right-handed knitting and haven't been able to do so. I have a problem with twisted stitches when using circular needles that just annoys me to death. I figured if I switched over it would stop. But I cannot do it.

[Raksha]

7. You knit with your left hand, correct?

Re>>I've tried to switch myself over to right-handed knitting and haven't been able to do so. I have a problem with twisted stitches when using circular needles that just annoys me to death. I figured if I switched over it would stop. But I cannot do it.<<

I understand what your problem is and I understand how to correct it, but I'm not at all sure I can explain it. This is the reason I have never tried to teach knitting. (I have taught crochet--all right-handers, too!) It's because I haven't been able to figure out how to explain this ONE thing, the thing about the twisted stitches. It's especially hard to explain to beginners, and yet it's essential for beginners to know.

I'm going to give it a try now, since you already know how to knit and you're having a problem, but don't expect a whole lot. I've never done this in writing before, and I have a hard enough time doing it face-to-face with the needles and yarn in hand.

<deep breath here>

First, imagine that you are using a knitting frame or knitting machine, where each stitch is held by a single nail or latch hook, rather than having all the stitches on one needle as for hand knitting. When you are looking at the stitch, it faces you directly and you are looking STRAIGHT INTO the loop of the stich. On a single-bed knitting machine, it's actually the purl side that faces you, but that's not too relevant in this context.

Now contrast this with your stitches on the knitting needle. You are looking at those stitches FROM THE SIDE. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's actually the root of your problem.

When you approach the stitches from the side, there are actually FOUR possible ways you can enter the stitch, two for knitting and two for purling. (I'll elaborate on this in a minute.) There are also two ways you can wrap (aka "throw") the yarn: either CLOCKWISE or COUNTERCLOCKWISE.

What's happening when you try to knit circular is that you are trying to throw the yarn the same way you do for back-and-forth knitting. This won't work because in circular knitting the right side of the work faces you the whole time. You aren't knitting on one side and purling on the other as you do for back-and-forth knitting. Therefore you can't throw the yarn the same way.

About that "four ways to enter the stitch" thing I mentioned earlier: Normally on a plain stockinette stitch, the stitches are always facing me correctly, so I enter the stitch from underneath. On the knit rows, I've got my yarn BEHIND the left-hand needle (the working needle) and I enter the stitch FROM THE FRONT. On the purl rows it's the opposite: I've got my yarn IN FRONT of the left-hand needle and I enter the stitch FROM THE BACK. This starting position of the yarn is standard. It's the same for all knitters, whether right or left-handed.

When the stitches are facing correctly, I always enter from the bottom whether I am knitting or purling and I assume you do too.

HOWEVER...when working knit-purl patterns where you have purl stitches on the right side (seed stitch is the most common of these), the stitches DO NOT always "face" or "present" correctly. Remember that you are approaching them from the side and you could have the "wrong" side of the stitch facing you. Once you become aware of this difference and learn to compensate for it, it will stop confusing you and you'll be able to knit or purl the stitch correctly in any situation.

So if you're working a seed stitch and you need to knit a stitch that was knitted on the previous row (I'm assuming back-and-forth knitting here), you need to enter the stitch FROM THE TOP instead of from the bottom as you normally do. If you don't compensate in this way you'll get a twisted stitch, and you should never get twisted stitches unless you want them. When you're following written instructions, they will use the abbreviation "tbl" (through back loop) when they want you to twist the stitch on purpose. Ribbing made with twisted knit stitches is often used on Aran sweaters because it gives the ribbing a "braided" look.

For your specific problem with circular knitting, though, it sounds like you are entering the knit stitch from the bottom and then wrapping the yarn around the needle counterclockwise, from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock. That's fine for back-and-forth knitting but it won't work for circular knitting. Wrap the yarn CLOCKWISE, from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock instead.

As long as you start out with the yarn BEHIND the needle on the knit stitch, you won't end up with an unwanted yarn-over or extra loop around the needle. You'll find that as long as you start out with the yarn in the correct position, it makes no difference which way you wrap it except in the way the stitch presents on the following row.

You'll also find that it's somewhat faster to knit this way, and also somewhat tighter. Most people including me have a tighter circular gauge, so I always use a needle one size bigger than I'd use for knitting back and forth.

I really hope this helps and isn't total gibberish. It would be SOOOO much easier if I could post diagrams, but I don't even know where to find any diagrams that illustrate what I mean.

[Longhorn]

8. Wow, I don't even knit and I could understand that!

Well done! :hi:

[Raksha]

9. Thank you! I was kinda proud of it myself when I got finished with it.

It's a good thing I didn't think about it too much before I started...I know myself, and I would have gotten cold feet and procrastinated forever instead of just diving right in and doing my best.

Saved it as a Word file too. It could be useful to me down the line.

[Donnachaidh]

10. I'm going to try that SOON!

Sorry for the delay -- your explanation sounds wonderful!

I've always wanted to do socks that don't twist -- and now I think you've solved the problem for me. I'm going to print this out and stash it in my stash.

Thank you so much!

[Raksha]

11. I haven't checked out this forum for a couple of months,

so I didn't see your reply until now. When you get around to trying it, please post and let me know how it works out. I saved it myself, because I think it could be useful when/if I start teaching knitting classes.