The joys of being left-handed

These hands are my hands.

They look like normal hands.

Everyday tasks

But these hands write like this!

These hands can manage to use right-handed scissors fairly neatly.

These hands use a knife and fork in a conventional way.

But they hold a spoon with the left hand.

They chop vegetables with the knife in the left hand.

And they peel vegetables with the vegetable peeler in the left hand.

They try to use a right-handed can-opener, but although this looks right it feels so wrong!

Whereas this feels as awkward as it looks.

So how do these hands knit?

They throw stitches like this.

And pick stitches like this.

That makes me a mirror knitter! In other words, I’m left-handed and I knit left-handed. As opposed to being left-handed and knitting right-handed or right-handed and knitting right-handed or even right-handed and knitting left-handed (they do exist).

How I learnt to knit

So, why do I knit left-handed? After all, some left-handed people knit right-handed. Well, although I was taught to knit right-handed I could not. It didn’t matter how hard I concentrated, my hands did not cooperate; what emerged from all these efforts was a tangle of yarn! And this was in spite of having no problems learning to sew, embroider and crochet (all of which I do left-handed). Everyone gave up trying to teach me and I gave up trying to learn.
Years later, I decided that given I could do so many other textile crafts and to a high level, there was no reason why I should not be able to learn to knit, so I decided to teach myself. This was before the internet, so I visited the library and found a knitting book. On one page I read something that provided me with a eureka moment!

It read along the lines of “if you are left-handed, balance a mirror next to the diagram, do what you see in the mirror, reversing the instructions”. It has to be said that balancing a mirror on a book whilst trying to learn to knit is not easy – in fact, it’s nearly impossible! So, I traced all the diagrams (before computers here) and taught myself to knit. And knitting has been a passion since then, there’s no technique I won’t try, and I work out everything from right-handed instructions.

The benefits of struggling

This has given me a good understanding of how knitting techniques work. More recently I have taught myself to knit right-handed, but don’t hold your breath, I shall never make anything knitting this way – I’m far too slow and it’s mentally exhausting! However, this lack of speed is perfect for teaching right-handed knitters – it’s a bit like watching a slow-motion film.

Oh, dear!

I have read posts on Ravelry about teaching left-handed people to knit. And I’m amazed to read comments along the lines of “teach them to knit right-handed – they’ll never know!” If that were the case, I could teach right-handed people to knit left-handed and they’ll never know either – but don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that. Clearly, some left-handed people can learn to knit right-handed and vice versa, but they are a minority.

It is decades since we used to force people to write with their right hands regardless of whether they were naturally right-handed or not. This caused all kinds of problems for those who are not. Left-handed people developed a reputation of being clumsy and there are all kinds of insults to this effect. And wouldn’t you be clumsy if forced to use the wrong hand all the time? Worse still, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of left-handed people being forced to write right-handed, then developing a stutter.

So, just as we allow people to learn to write with their natural hand, I think that we should all teach potential knitters to knit in the way that comes naturally to them.

Coming soon

I’m planning some technical knitting posts to compare and contrast left- and right-handed knitting. I’m hoping that both left- and right-handed knitters will find them useful.

These hands are my hands, these hands are my hands
From sketching ideas to swatching stitches;
From knitting garments to writing instructions
These hands make things for you and me.
(big apologies to Woody Guthrie