The truth about left-handed crochet: The differences for left handed crocheters
Over the years I have been crocheting I have seen all sorts of comments on social media and the internet about those who crochet left handed.
From sweeping statements like ’you can’t follow patterns if you’re left handed ’ (this is nonsense) to ‘left handed crochet looks different’ (this is only true in specific circumstances) and ’it’s harder to learn to crochet if you’re left handed’ (only if you’re using right handed resources).
There are a ton of myths and misinterpretations out there about what it means to be a left handed crocheter.
As a left handed crocheter, designer and crochet pattern writer, I want to use my personal experience to address some of these misunderstandings and explain the differences between left and right handed crochet.
I’ll explain what the practical differences are for left handed vs right handed crocheters and dig into how these can be managed and mitigated if needed.
I never want to see a left hander put off crochet because someone on a facebook group says they can’t do something – because you can!
According to stats, about 1 in 9 of the population are left handed. This proportion seems to have been fairly stable throughout the years. If you’re left handed, you’ll know that it comes with both challenges and benefits.
Many tools are designed with right handers only in mind, and their left handed counterparts are often much more expensive. Thankfully, this generally isn’t the case for crochet hooks, which can be used in either hand.
Today I’m going to share my experiences of what it’s like to learn to crochet left handed, and to design and write crochet patterns as a left handed designer.
So let’s get into how crochet differs for left handed folks
What is the difference between left and right handed crochet?
Left and right handed crocheters work in opposite directions:
A right handed crocheter will work in rows from right to left and in the round anticlockwise.
A left handed crocheter works a row from left to right and a in the round clockwise.
A left handed crochet project would be a mirror image of the same project made by a right handed crocheter.
For example, a simple swatch of rows of double crochet made by a left handed crocheter will be a flipped version of that made by a right handed crocheter. Though it would take very close examination to notice any differences between the two.
That really is the long and the short of it.
(Note there are always exceptions and crocheters who use their own unique style.)
What do you need to know about being a left handed crocheter?
Generally speaking, a left hander can follow the same patterns as a right hander.
However, visuals created by right handers may need mentally flipping or mirroring in a leftie’s head.
As a left-hander, I have gotten used to mentally reversing a lot of the right handed world because it’s what’s needed to to get along. Although this can feel like a challenge, I like to think that it keeps our brains nimble and flexible. Anytime I have to flip something with my mind, I think of it as a mini brain workout to keep me on my toes.
With crochet, you will find this skill useful when it comes to video or picture tutorials and some charts / crochet diagrams.
I’ll go into a bit more detail about these below, but I want to say that if you struggle with reversing images in your mind, don’t fret, there is another way…
If mentally working backwards leaves you all fingers and thumbs then you can take a mirror, hold it to the resource you’re working from and view it from the image in the mirror rather than the one on the screen.
What should left handed crocheters have to look out for?
Below is a lists of features of patterns that a left handed crocheter, may need to reverse or recalibrate:
- Video tutorials
- Photo tutorials
- Charts / Stitch Diagrams
- Colour work or cables or other decorative patterns
- Patterns which refer to left side / right side
Using right haded crochet video and photo tutorials as a left handed crocheter
As the majority of people are right handed, a lot of crochet tutorials are created by and or for right hand crocheters.
If you’re working these as a left hander then your work will be a mirror image of what is seen on screen or paper. So you will need to flip either the image or your work (mentally or by using a mirror) to compare the two.
By now this comes naturally to me, but if you’re new to crochet then it can really throw you off.
If you can, especially if you’re newer to crochet I recommend seeking out left handed resources.
Because I am left handed I can only create my tutorial left handed. But I use my video editing software to simply mirror the video so it becomes suitable for right handers.
Most video editing software will now allow you to flip the video, making it relatively simple to turn a right handed tutorial into a left handed one. For creators and designers, there are now very few barriers for people to provide videos for both left and right handed crocheters.
Handedness is an important feature to include for those who wish to be inclusive. It takes a little extra time, and disk space to create a copy, but it’s not like reinventing the wheel.
Similarly, photos taken of a right handed crochet stitch for example can be mirrored to make them left handed and vice versa.
Here’s an example of a still image from my Herringbone Double Crochet Tutorial which uses the images as they were photographed (left handed).
The image below is reversed / flipped so this echos what a right handed crocheter would see. I imagine, depending on whether you are left or right handed, one of these two pictures looks rather odd to you.
You can tell the first image is left handed as the hook is working along the row from left to right. Whereas on the second image, the hook is working from right to left (so is a right handed image).
Whilst I could create photo tutorials using both pictures – essentially creating a duplicate tutorial – the reality is that this is not very practical. What I do instead is to add a note at the start of a tutorial stating whether the images are left or right handed.
It actually took me a while to realise these tutorial photos might be confusing to a right hander, so some of my older tutorials may still require that additional note.
Left handed crochet charts
Crochet charts are something where handedness needs to be considered. However, these can be easier to mitigate than mirroring.
Below is the chart used for the circle colourwork in my chakra shawl pattern.
For a typical right haded crochet chart, one would start at the bottom right and follow the chart up the rows back and forth to create the image.
If I were to follow this chart (as a left hander) bottom up from right to left, I would end up with a mirror image of it.
In this example, the shape is symmetrical so it would make no difference. But for an asymmetric chart, this could be problematic.
To correct the mirror image issue as a left hander you could follow the chart from left to right instead (still working from bottom to top as the row direction doesn’t change).
Alternatively, if you’re working a chart which uses the same stitches throughout, and you end up with a mirror image by mistake, you should be able to switch the wrong and right sides (i.e. turn your fabric over) and end up with a piece of work that matches the chart.
If you are working with a combination of stitches or different stitches on different rows where wrong and right sides matter (are not just nominal), then it will not be as straight forward to flip the fabric over.
It can take quite a bit of mind bending mental agility to reverse diagrams in your head and factor in wrong / right sides. So for more complex charts, I recommend left handers swatch a small section to check that it’s going to come out the right way around.
Directionality of charts can be important when working with text patterns for example, where it really matters which way the pattern works up.
Left handed crochet stitch diagrams
Generally speaking, most left handers can follow right handed charts just fine.
The chart below is a typical example of a crochet pattern worked in rows. It is followed from the bottom up.
Here the starting chain is made and the first row is worked from right to left, starting in the 3rd chain from the hook. Double crochets are worked along the row to the end and the work is turned ready for the second row.
The second row in the diagram is shown worked left to right. In practice however, because you turn your work at the end of the row, a right handed crocheter would still be working from right to left.
So essentially everyone is doing a bit of flipping when it comes to these kind of stitch diagrams.
As long as you keep your rows relative, there shouldn’t be an issue with left and right handers using a simple chart like this one.
The same issues apply with wrong / right sides as discussed previously with grid based charts.
Below the chart, I have added a little caveat which is specific to fillet crochet (which I will talk about in another post soon) but to create a ’hole,’ which is characteristic of fillet crochet, you work 1 double crochet, chain 2 and miss 2 stitches.
I have shown what each of these stitches would look like for left and right handers as you actually work, in order to highlight the differences. Once again, they are simply mirror images of one another.
Circular charts can be a little more confusing to work with but, generally speaking, as a left hander, you should just be able to follow them clockwise instead of anti-clockwise.
You may find some of the starting chains or slip stitches for joining are a little misleading in some cases, so do watch out for those.
Left handed accommodations for complex stitch patterns and crochet cables
There are some instances where, when following a written pattern, it is important to know in advance that your work will be a mirror image of the one pictured (if you use a different dominant hand to the maker of the sample).
I learned this the hard way with one of my cabled pullover patterns; the ’It’s just not cricket’ sweater.
This design has an interrupted cable pattern where the breaks are on an angle. In the picture below you can see that the break in the cabe slopes upwards (from bottom up) from left to right.
However, if you’re a right hander working on this pattern your breaks will slope upwards from right to left.
When I first released the pattern, I had one right handed maker who was sure they were doing something wrong because the slope was the other way. As a consequence, they tried to fudge it to make it look like the picture and ended up in a bit of a pickle.
This pattern had been tested but the issue hadn’t come up there. I have since updated the pattern so it’s clear that there will be difference with left / right handers.
I’ll show you a close up of the swatches, which make it more obvious why it’s important to be aware of the implication of left / right handed makes, even if you don’t need to change anything.
Below is the left handed swatch which matches the sweater. The image immedately after is the right handed / flipped version. You can see that if you were trying to make your fabric look like the wrong picture you would end up in a mess.
I actually think that it’s right handed crocheters who are working from left handed samples who are more likely to fall prey to this issue. I’m generalising here, but I think right handers rarely have to think about handedness because they are in the majority, so it may not occur to them it could be a difference.
My advice here, regardless of handedness, is that if something doesn’t seem right with how your project is working up, check in with the designer.
In the second picture above, there is a telltale sign that the image has been flipped. If you look closely at the hook, you can see that the text stating the hook size is reversed. One to check for if you think something is backwards.
How to work with patterns that refer to left and right sides as a left hander
Some patterns, particularly garments, will often refer to left and right sides. This might be for something like neck shaping or cardigan fronts or sleeve / shoulder shaping.
If you’re a left hander working from a pattern written by a right hander then the general rule of thumb is to substitute right for left in the pattern and it will all come up roses.
As a left handed pattern designer however, I find this over complex and prone to cause confusion – especially as I am usually already reversing it once from left to right hand.
Instead I prefer to use the terms first and second side.
Instructions are generally relative so there is a natural first and second side. That or it doesn’t matter which side you tackle first but the second needs to be different to the first.
One thing I’ve learned for writing patterns is always to make the instructions as simple as possible. I find that replacing references to left and right with relative terms helps with this simplicity.
How do I teach someone to crochet if they have a different dominant hand to me?
Hard truth to start with… this can be tricky!
When I was a kid, my mum used to get us knit dishcloths for my grandmother at Christmas. She (as a right hander) taught me the basic knit stitch but when I wanted to learn more, she just couldn’t get her head around it so my knitting career stalled aged 7…
Before the wonder of youtube, these things were much harder!
When I was learning to crochet, finding good left handed tutorials on youtube was like discovering a goldmine for me. They are thankfully much more common now than they were ten years ago.
Youtube is great for left handers, but wha about teaching in person?
The best tip I have seen for teaching opposite handed people face to face is literally to do just that. Sit opposite and just have them mirror everything you do. Try not to mention left and right though as that can muddy the waters.
Although I don’t tend to tech in person, I tried this with my nephew one holiday a couple of years ago and he picked it up pretty quickly.
How can right handed crochet designers help left handed crocheters?
I want to end with a bit of a summary of the issues which impact left handed crocheters and to consider how we can be more accommodating of those who work differently to us.
This section is also designed to help those of you who write crochet patterns or make crochet tutorials to better serve your left handed makers.
If a pattern is thoughtfully written then there is no reason that any significant changes need to be made for left handed crocheters. However, here is a quick checklist of points to consider in any crochet pattern or tutorial.
1. Clarify whether images or videos are right or left handed. Link to alternatives if they are available.
2. If you include directional instructions for charts / diagrams, make sure there is also an instruction appropriate for left handers. Don’t just assuming lefties will know to change it.
3. If the pattern is likely to look significantly different if mirror imaged, make sure that left handers will know to expect a reversal.
4. Where possible, a pattern or tutorial should refrain from using left and right descriptors and use relative terms such as first and second or before and after / previous and next instead.
This may refer to left side or right sides, but is also relevant to instructions such as ’insert hook in stitch to the left.’ Try something like, ‘insert hook in previous stitch’ instead.
5. If you have your patterns or tutorials tested, try to make sure you include a left handed tester and ask them to look out for any differences from the right handed sample.
I hope that, wether left or right handed, or ambidextrous, you have found this a useful breakdown of how crochet is different for those with different dominant hands.
If you’ve come across any issues that I haven’t mentioned here, I would love to hear them, so please do share your experience in the comments.
Thanks and Happy Hooking
Dx
I am left handed, but I crochet right handed. It never even crossed my mind to learn left handed. I tension the yarn with my left hand when I crochet which is something I don’t think I could do well with my right hand. I also knit, but I had the hardest time with it until I learned how to knit continental. Again, this allows me to tension my yarn with my left hand.
Thanks for sharing. This is interesting! I think that the way you learn becomes the easiest as it’s all about practice. I am glad you have found techniques which work for you both in knit and crochet!
All the best
Dora
If a crochet design is flat and in diagram form ( graph) , in knitting, right handers always wrk the graph right to left for every row. Is this correct for charts working flat in crochet too?
I’m not familiar with knitting charts but generally crochet charts are worked back and forth, turning at the end of each row. Alhough this does depend on the specific pattern and design.
I have an alphabet graph pattern but being left handed the bobble letters are coming out backwards. Where do I start on a pattern with bobble letters ?
If you read the pattern left to right rather than right to left should have the desired effect (as you’re mirror imaging it). Also it can be helpful to remember that the bobbles should always be made on the wrong side. Work a couple of rows like this then pause and check it’s coming out as you want it to!
My mom tried to teach me when I was younger but I couldn’t grasp it then because she’s a righty and I’m a lefty. It wasn’t until yrs later in my 20’s or 30’s that I found YouTube videos that showed lefty versions. Over the yrs I’ve found 3 books for lefty’s: Rowan’s Learn to Crochet Sampler Afghan by Laurinda Reddig. Learn to Crochet in Just One Day, Left-Handed Version by Jean Leinhauser. Easy Beginner Baby Blankets to Crochet by Bonnie Barker.
I think my biggest pet peeve is when righty’s tell you to watch the video in a mirror. They have obviously never tried to do that on a tiny phone screen, lol.
haha, yes, watching a phone video in a mirror is never going to be the easiest! Wouldn’t it be great if youtube had a ‘flip’ option to switch it round!! And thank you for the left handed crochet book recommendations. These are always appreciated!
I was teaching my first crochet class on Sunday. The posting said it was not for beginners, but alas a left handed, new crocheter signed up. She didn’t know the difference between SC and DC. Her stitches didn’t look like standard crochet stitches. There were many, many holes. I couldn’t tell the front from back. The pattern used the crocodile stitch. She not only crocheted left to right, but upside down. I tried and tried to help her, but as a heavily predominant right handed my brain just isn’t wired to know what she was doing wrong. The crocodile stitch has 5 fpdc stitches down one DC from the previous row. A chain 2 for the point. Then 5 more fpdc stitches up the next DC from the previous row. so all my photos and instructions were written right handed. In addition to that being backwards for her, somehow she made the post stitches upside down with the scale points at the top of the bag instead of pointing downwards. do left handed stitches look dramatically different than the stitches or do you think it was due to her being very novice. Shed never finished any project. how did the scales come out upside down? I want to be a good teacher. I want to teach knit and crochet after I retire. How can I learn to teach left handed? I tried to teach myself, but my left hand is so weak I kept dropping everything! Any resources you can share? Thanks
Hi, well it does sound like your left hander was doing something rather unique! Left handed stitches really don’t look very different from right. As a left handed crocheter, I crochet from left to right, or clockwise but not upside-down – I can’t quite imagine what that would look like! Typically, I wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart I don’t think – unless I got to unravel them to see which direction they were worked! I don’t have anything else I could add in terms of resources other than what I have put here. If you want to try, you could have a go at sitting opposite a left handed crocheter so that you mirror each other – or indeed ask them to watch what you’re doing in a mirror. If you record a video, you can just flip / mirror image and it will be left handed. That really is the major difference.
Love this article. I taught my left-handed self to needlepoint by turning the canvas over. Works great for me!
Love this!! 🙂
I’m a lefty, so far I haven’t encounter a problem but I haven’t done any big colour work. I needed this positive outlook. <3 I was frowning a little when I read on a PDF that crochet experts recommed to teach left handed students to crochet right handed.
I'm thinking about teaching lefties in my town.
Thanks for your comment Karla, I think it’s great you’re thinking of sharing your crochet skill with fellow lefties. It can be a bit of a challenge when you have teachers who only suggest crocheting right handed (I did face palm at this!). IT might be easier for them to teach but it’s certainly not easier (generally speaking) for us to learn that way! That’s why I wrote this post as there seems to be a lot of confusion about how left handed crochet actually differs! I’m glad that you pushed through the negative comments! 🙂
Dora
Hi! Left-handed knitter and crocheter here. I have just started my first amigurumi project – a calico cat that I’m making to look like my daughter’s cat. I have a pattern and just planned to use the colors of her kitty. Wrong 🫤. Halfway through the head, I realized the colors were on the wrong sides. I’m planning to start again, crocheting each line backwards? Has anyone ever encountered this?
Thanks!
If you’re not using a pattern for the colourwork, it may be that you’ve switch the wrong and right sides? It’s hard to be sure. But left handed projects are essentially a mirror image of right handed so if you’re following a colourwork pattern where wrong and right sides matter, you need to be a little careful to not invert the image! I hope that helps! Dora
Hiya!! I’m left handed too, and read somewhere that my amigurumi would be inside-out. I don’t really see it, but sometimes my perfectionism gets the better of me. Did you ever hear of this, and if so, do you have any thoughts? Thank you!!
I can’t visualise how that would be a thing – Wrong and right / public and private sides of a crochet project are relative, so there’s no reason they would flip. Also, the terms wrong and right side do not equate to correct and incorrect – it’s the side that the designer intends to be facing out / inward. I would question the source of the ‘inside out’ theory. And even if it did work out with the wrong / right sides reversed, you just turn it around! Let the perfectionism go, you don’t need it 🙂
After reading your article and the comments I am sitting here wondering if a left-handed crocheter could make copies of crochet pattern charts and photos onto “transparency sheet” and then just flip the sheets over so that they are reversed.
That could work – I would find it easier to take a picture and flip it to the mirror image on the camera / phone. But it’s not always necessary because charts are relative – if everything is mirrored then it will come out the same essentially. Depending on right / wrong sides.
Hi, I found your article fascinating. I am left handed and a happy knitter, but I have never managed to learn to crochet. I am not a great fan of video learning – it’s great as a reminder of how to do something, or with a tricky explanation but for full earning my brain prefers in reason teaching or a book. I dont have anyone locally who is able to teach me in a way that works for my left handed brain, so I wondered if you had found any good basic books for teaching crochet to left handers? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
I don’t have any book recommendations specifically for left handers – though I did have a similar conversation with a crocheter who wanted to help her left handed daughter learn – but likewise they didn’t get on with videos – so I think there is a market for left handed stills. The only thing I can think is to use a left handed video and pause it so you get a freeze frame, then play with the stitch for a while, then play again for the next bit. When you’re a beginner, it’s all about practice so watching in slow motion in short spurts may be a work around. (Also, my mom tried to teach me to knit as a kid but we couldn’t get past the very basics because she couldn’t switch from right to left handed!)
Good afternoon,
I like the info u provided. However, How do u do C2C crochet graphan design like words or letters that is right handed and convert to left handed
Hi there, I confess I have never worked a c2c graphgan but I would imagine the principle would be the same. Just follow the chart in reverse. That said, corner to corner is reversible so it shouldn’t really matter. I hope that helps!
Hi I am self taught I tried the sit opposite which didn’t go well as the tutor was not really that helpful.
I am lucky enough to be able to reverse things in my head which is how I learnt with the help from you tube from right handed video’s as at the time I didn’t even know there was any left handed tutorials. I do sometimes struggle with circular diagrams but fora normal straight diagrams I either work from left to right or start with a row single/double (uk) foundation row then work from right to left.
The only real problem I seem to encounter is making gloves or fingerless gloves although my left hand and right hand are the opposite I find I can never get the thumb hole to feel right as it always feels like it should be on the opposite hand so any pointer would be gratefully received.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I love your work around of adding a row to the start to make the charts work! I think as a leftie, we get really good at reversing things in our head – especially if we have grown up without another leftie to work with!
As for the gloves,I think that would be dependent on the pattern. The fingerless gloves I have made are the same for both left and right, so there is no shaping. However, if you’re working a pattern that is shaped for each hand then I think you may well come across an issue as the shaping might curve the wrong way over the top of the hand. My glove construction isn’t sufficient to dig any deeper than theoretical thoughts (this is probably why I’ve never attempted gloves with handed thumbs!!!
I am a ‘split dominance’ lefty. Most of my fine motor control is on my left (writing, eating, sewing with a needle and thread, even ironing) and my gross motor skills are on the right (bowling, swimming – strong stroke is on the right – playing tennis).
I bat righty for power BUT I have trouble connecting with the ball, so I tend to bat lefty more … there just isn’t the power behind it (but the eye-hand coordination is on that side, I guess).
My parents were both very right-handed, and so was my oldest brother. The middle brother is EXTREMELY left-handed (as is my husband), and as the ‘baby’ I was the weird one.
I preface this because despite the fact that eating soup with my right hand is definitely a disaster (following hand surgery, I tried this), I both knit and crochet right-handed.
I can’t even wear my watch on my left hand as it bothers me when writing or typing.
My mother taught me to knit at age 9 and no one even suggested that it could be done differently.
I taught myself to crochet in college when (in the hippie days) everyone was wearing crocheted open-work ponchos and vests.
My friend is very much like me BUT she learned to crochet left-handed by placing a library book facing a mirror. Yet, she knits right-handed because that’s how her mother taught her.
And she is extremely accomplished at both … intarsia patterns with bobbins hanging don’t trouble her a bit.
I was surprised that she crocheted lefty … until I noticed her ‘hook grip’ … she holds it like a pencil. No wonder she can’t crochet righty. I cannot hold a pencil properly in my right hand … so I certainly can’t hold a hook that way. I use the ‘knife’ grip. Since I do not reverse my hands when eating, my fork is in my left hand BUT I cut with the knife in my right hand.
Oddly, I can only use a vegetable peeler in my left hand and I chop vegetables with my left hand (I look for knives with sharp blades on both sides) but when eating, my knife is in my right hand. I cut better with lefty scissors.
I think this grip is a big factor in which way people crochet … maybe a lefty can handle the knife grip on the right but not the pencil grip.
It doesn’t matter but it is simply an observation I have made over the many years.
‘Handedness’ is a topic that has always fascinated me.
Thanks for your informative article.
This is such a valid point! I hadn’t drawn the line between the style of grip and the left and right handed factor. I am very left (my dad was a leftie and forced to use his right hand because of the generation he grew up in so was very keen we all used the hand that felt natural – I am the only leftie out of 4!). I eat and cut and write and everything with my left. Though I can eat backwards if needed! I am a knife grip but I wonder if other lefties that eat with the knife in their right hand are more likely to use a pencil grip if crocheting left handed. And conversely, I wonder if left handers who crochet right handed are more likely to use a knife hold over a pencil hold. I feel the need to do a survey to collect the data!! Handedness really is fascinating isn’t it!! I wish they knew more about it.
Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Excellent article. I am normally left handed but because I was only six when I learned to knit and crochet, I never gave it a thought. I just did what my Mom told me to do. Thank you.
I think if you learn that young then it just gets hard wired! I often think I must have a try at crocheting right handed just to see the mess I make!
I can confirm the last part about teaching.
I am right-handed. I always ask if new crocheters are left- or -right- handed, and try to sit the left-handers where they can ‘mirror’ me in case they find it tricky. I’ve also tried to crochet with my left hand (I’m *very* right-handed!) to model things for some learners – I look like a beginner again, but it slows the steps down too!
I have added a mirror to my teaching kit, to help left-handed learners with learning to read charted patterns. While they *can* turn their work over to match it to the pattern, I think that it’s better to learn how to read a chart for themselves.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. This is great to hear! I am very left handed and keep thinking I want to give crochet a try right handed just to see how bad it is.
Great point about reading charts too. I agree it’s best to learn in a way that will be sustainable! 😊