Crocheting Right or Left Handed?

By Rachel Choi – 36 Comments

Some people are right handed and others are left handed. Which one are you and which hand do you crochet with? Personally, I’m right handed and I also crochet with my right hand. It’s hard for me to imagine crocheting with my left, as I barely do anything as a lefty. Actually, I do play Guitar Hero left handed…but this has nothing to do with crocheting!

crochet right or left handed

I think that right handers are the lucky ones since so many tutorials and videos are made with the crochet hook in the right hand. I’m guessing that it’s difficult for left handers to follow something that is inverted. After all, I would have trouble following a tutorial if it was written for a lefty. Although may newer tutorials do compensate for lefties (such as my tutorials), but maybe some lefties have already converter to righties?

Which one are you and which hand do you crochet with?

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36 Comments

  1. Rita_K says:

    I crochet with my left hand, but as with anything else, I read instructions fine for righty’s but have trouble decifering any for lefty’s. Is that weird?

  2. Mellie says:

    I am right handed, though I do use my left hand for particular things – for example, I use the computer mouse with my left hand. But for crochet, I’m a definite righty!

  3. Angela says:

    Right-handed crocheter here. However, I love the left-handed directions on this site. I think the roll-over feature is GREAT!

  4. Alicia says:

    I’m left handed and crochet left handed. HOWEVER I have taught myself to crochet right handed (the basic beginning stitches) because I have met very few left handed people that want to learn to crochet.

  5. Margaret Garland says:

    I am also left-handed. Like Alicia, I am self taught. I learned by looking at pictures in an old booklet and reversing them. Was simple.

    Left-handed people are, for the most part, quite adept at converting instructions from the right-handed world. We learn when we are small and do it automatically when we are grown. It’s called preserving our sanity. LOL

  6. Jenny says:

    I’m a leftie, and learned from a Left/Right – handed book. The book included simple stitches – left handed instructions were on the left page; right handed instructions were on the right page. I haven’t really done any challenging stitches so I don’t know how difficult it would be to convert, but I don’t think it will be a problem. Lefties are always learning how to do it our own way!

  7. Alicia says:

    left handed and leftie crocheter! I do a few things right handed like using scissors. it’s easier for me to follow right hand instructions though…. video tutorials I don’t have any difficulty right or left. I’m used to everything being for righties, so it’s all good 🙂

  8. Lisa Hamblin says:

    I crochet right-handed.

  9. KristiLou says:

    I am left-handed and also a left-handed crocheter. I tried to learn right handed, as I thought it would be easier to read patterns, and can do the basics, but it is amazing the difference in the two hands.

    I haven’t found many problems in converting patterns, but occasionally get a little flustered.

    I love how your images flip.

    Glad I found your site.

  10. Sandy says:

    I am a righty. and was taught by my righty mom. I do agree that if I was left-handed I might be lost. My sis was left handed but she only knit. Mom could knit and crochet, but I never saw her knit ….only crochet. 🙂

  11. Serena says:

    I am a left hander but crochet in the right hand way. The main difference is that a right hander holds the work still and moves the hook. I hold my work the same way but hold the hook still and move the work around (if that makes sense)

  12. Mary Horesh says:

    I am left handed and tried to learn from books that had limited instructions. It was very slow going at first but luckily found some classes in my town and Denise was kind enough as a right handed crochet person tried to learn left handed so she could teach me. Now I have grasped the basics I can convert right handed stitches.

    Have tried knitting but that seems difficult to grasp as a left handed person.

  13. T W says:

    I’m a leftie and learned how to crochet from my right-handed grandmother. I sat across from her instead of next to her or behind her to learn. As a leftie, I’ve always felt clumsy but I’ve also always had the excuse that I’m adapting to a right-handed world! What excuses do you right-handed clutzes have? Just kidding! Thanks for your rollover technique, Rachel!

  14. Laura says:

    I’m left-handed and crochet left-handed and am self-taught from a book. I also knit left-handed. I sometimes have problems with cardigans that have buttonholes right in the fabric because everything is reversed for a lefty.

  15. Susan Oldham says:

    I am left-handed, but crochet right-handed. I was taught by my Grandmother and she was right-handed. I also knit right-handed. I guess you could say that I am right-handed when it comes to needle work, but left-handed for everything else.

  16. Jodie says:

    I am a lefty, wanted to learn as a child from my righty mom. She tought me and I think I learned from her, but thought I was doing it wrong because of course, my stitches looked different. Which I did not grasp at age 9. But, picked up a lefty/righty book in the late 90’s and realized how much time I’d wasted thinking I couldn’t do it when in fact I could! But, I do believe I’ve made up for lost time! Thanks Mom!

  17. Sonya says:

    Wow- it is great to see so many left handed crocheters! I am left handed as well and crochet left handed. I taught myself how to crochet by reading books and the internet. It was very challenging at first but now I have a foundation of what to do. I still sometimes get a little confused learning from a right handed diagram but eventually with practice I get it. 🙂

  18. Angie says:

    I’m a lefty and learned from my right-handed grandmother. She sat me directly across from her and I mirrored what she did. It was fairly easy. I’ve never had problems figuring out patterns, but I must say I don’t remember ever seeing any meant for left-handers. I think that if you’ve grown up as a lefty you’ve spent your life adapting. We’ve spent our life reading and writing from left to right and it’s not hard to follow crochet directions that way either. I have seen ‘learn to crochet’ tutorials that teach that lefty’s HAVE to learn to use their right hand and that it’s not possible to crochet left-handed. That’s not true and it’s not good to force someone ‘adapt’ because you think something is wrong with the way they do it. That attitude really irritates me. Our craft is also, for many, a hobby and one that is meant for relaxation. Going against what is natural is not relaxing. At least not to me. (OK – I’ll get off my soap box now.)

  19. Gaz says:

    Rachel, my fiancee’s friend is the opposite of you at Guitar Hero. He’s lefty but plays righty LOL. He’s a drummer in my fiancee’s band and sets his drumset up lefty-style though.
    Anyway, I’m a righty but I’m semi-ambidextrious. I can only do some things lefty like use utensils, throw a ball and bat/golf. My mom’s the same way. She does a lot of her sports lefty even though she’s a righty, but she taught herself how to write w/her left (to forge her left-handed mother’s signature LOL) I’d like to train myself to crochet w/my left hand so I can switch hands when one’s cramping up. Most left-handed people I knew never bothered to learn because they thought they couldn’t (like my 5th grade teacher) or learned to do it with their right. I remember the book I had when I first tried to learn described the “pencil grip” and “knife grip” for righties but only the pencil grip for lefties, as if a left-handed person wouldn’t have much success crocheting w/the knife grip and I found that weird. I imagine for most stitches and patterns you just flip your work and do it in the opposite direction, but not having to be in that situation I can’t say for sure if it’s that simple. I think a lot of it is a holdover from the olden days when they forced kids in school to do everything with their right hand and the fact that there are just more righties than lefties and no one realizes things designed for righties don’t always work well for lefties.The good news is nowadays the lefty instructions are better and they also have you to reverse your images for their convenience.

  20. T W says:

    To Gaz: I don’t really think it would be possible to switch between left- and right-handed crochet while doing a single project. I have the last afghan my dear grandmother started and since she was right-handed and I’m not, I wondered for quite some time how I could possibly finish that afghan. While I know the stitches she used, I couldn’t figure out how do continue her work. A friend gently told me, “It’s finished now.” I’ve accepted that fact and proudly display that ‘unfinished’ afghan in our living room. No disrespect intended and if anybody knows a way to switch in a single project, I’d be interested to know how.

  21. Jessi says:

    Left handed girl but do most everything Right handed….Weird!

  22. Gina Padilla says:

    I am a Lefty and have not had a problem with any of the Crochet patterns I have done for the past 13 years I have written patterns and didn’t realize the Pictures I posted in them are from my Left handed perspective I really need to change them.

  23. geri says:

    I’m left handed but follow the right handed instructions. I’m what you’d call amberdextrous? gee i hope i spelled it right. My grandmother taught me at a young age and had me face her. I’ve also taught a lot of right handed people how to crochet.

  24. Jessica-Jean says:

    I’m ambidextrous, but I crochet with my hook in my right hand. I’d read about left-handed crocheters, but have yet to meet one or see one crocheting. However, I did pick up a crocheted … scatter rug? cat bed? … whatever in a second-hand shop. I was intrigued by the stitch pattern. I’ve had it for about a year and only a few days ago deciphered what it is. It’s all single crochet. It is never turned; the yarn is cut at the end of each row, after a locking chain 1 – even at the end of the base chain – and begun with a slip-knot working a sc into the first sc at the beginning of each row. OK. That works. But still something was nagging at my brain. What it was is that the item was done by someone who held the hook in the left hand! To test my theory, I had to take up a hook in my left hand and try to handle the yarn with my right … not so easy! However, after a few false starts, I did it and worked a partial row just to see if I was right. I felt like a CSI detective solving a case!
    Now I *know* I can switch to crocheting with my left hand if ever my right is out of commission for a lengthy time. It’s funny though; the hardest part was getting my right hand to manipulate the yarn. I always hold my yarn in my left hand, even when knitting; that’s the way I was taught.

  25. Tammy says:

    I’m profoundly left handed – I run a calculator and use a mouse with my right hand but that’s about it. I taught myself to crochet many years ago, using illustrations for the right handed. I switched them around or used a mirror if I couldn’t get it by just looking at it. It’s been my experience that lefties tend to expect to find instructions for the right handers only, and we adapt. The only real problem I’ve ever had with crocheting is that I very rarely am on gauge. If I use a different size hook it’s then usually too big. I think it’s probably the tension more than being left handed for this one. So I make things where gauge isn’t important, and still love the craft.

  26. chicabonita0121 says:

    I am lefty and I crochet holding the needle in my left hand. It was very difficult – if not impossible for my grandmother to teach me (and she did some beautiful filet crochet – but she was a righty). I ended up learning years later from co-worker who happened to be a righty as well. Go fig.

  27. Angela says:

    I am a lefty by nature, ambidextrous by practice. I write left handed, but crochet right handed. I only learned to read patterns in the past few years, so I never had to convert anything. kudos to those who can do that, you are amazing.

    the only thing I get irked about is when people tell me that I hold my hook wrong. I do not believe that there is a wrong way as long as your stitches come out right. The socially accepted way to hold your hook is the “pencil grip” I cannot for the life of me get this right. the loops slip off my hook constantly, and yarning over is practically impossible and drives me batty. I hold my hook alot like I would hold a knife. Its just more comfortable this way and this is the way that my grandma held it and the way that my mom uses it.

    and does anyone actually wrap the yarn around their pinky like the books tell you to? I think this is another way to set you up for one big clumsy disaster. at least for me. im a klutz. I control tension by curling my ring and pinky fingers into my palm and the yarn slides betwwen my fingers and my palm. especially works great for the bulky, lumpy yarns like lion brand homespun yarn.

    sorry got a little off topic.

  28. Marlene says:

    I am a lefty and crochet left-handed.For several years I tried to learn from my mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my other aunt, and round and round we go! But as you can probably guess, they were all right handed, and I was lost. About a month ago I stumbled upon this site while trying to find resources to teach me the more advanced stitches left-handed. I had already taught mysefl the basics by staring at right handed pictures (for hours!) and turning the image in my head. Thank you so much for your lefty-friendly tutorials, Rachel!

    Incidently, I knit right-handed…

  29. Barbara says:

    I am left handed, and I crochet left handed. I’ve been left handed all of my life and am used to living where most of everything is designed for right handed people. Most of the time I don’t have that much trouble figuring it out. I am used to it.

    Think about it for a minute, if you are left handed then you learn everything a little different. What makes crochet any different? I don’t think much about it anymore. I can crochet anything my right handed friends can do and sometimes even better. I have even taught right handed people how to crochet.

  30. Olivia says:

    I am right-handed and I crochet with my right hand. I tried to crochet with my left hand once but I never picked it up.

  31. karina says:

    I can do both. My right is better but I have a lot of rheumatic conditions in my early 20’s so I give my right a break. I have many years to go.

  32. meggy says:

    I learnt by watching video’s on youtube and books from the library. Originally I tried left handed (that’s my dominant hand) but i ended up switching to right handed and having more success. Now I can’t imagine doing it with my left.

  33. I am right handed as well. Been doing it for years, takes lots of practice!

  34. Georgia says:

    I’m a lefty and and I crochet with my left hand. I learned from my mom who is a righty and let me tell you if I wasn’t as stubborn and afraid to fail as I am I would never have learned how to crochet. But anyway, the reason I’m commenting is to say yes, lefties do have a hard time deciphering patterns written for righties sometimes. But it also helps that lefties think faster and are able to figure things out a little easier than all you right handed people (no ofence righties). And it also helps for me to sometimes take parts of the pattern and just turn it backwards, and if that fails just improvise!

    In my opinion lefties don’t get the credit we deserve, being left handed isn’t a disability, if anything it’s an advantage ’cause we do and use the same things as all the righties and do it ten times better! 🙂

    It’s easier than you think it is for a lefty to learn to crochet, ya’ just have to try.

  35. Rachel McKinney says:

    I’m right handed and crochet with my left hand. I’m self taught and using my left just felt more natural. I taught myself to knot first and did that right handed. I’ve tried crocheting with my right hand and it was slow going and sloppy, and my wrist and hand got really tired! I really have no desire to crochet with my left hand.

  36. Elena says:

    My dominant hand is my right handed. I initially tried to crochet with my right hand, it is hard for me so I hold the hook in my left hand. Is that unusual?

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