Before I show you the anatomy of a left handed knit stitch, I want to show you what a knit stitch looks like.
Please click on any image to enlarge.
If you look at the above photo you will see some little green Vs. Those are outlining the knit stitch. Each V is one stitch. Each stitch has a leading leg and a back leg.
left handed knitters knit from the right needle to the left needle with their forward progression moving to the right and the front of the stitch facing the left.
This means then that lefties have the leading leg sitting BEHIND the needle and the back leg is sitting in FRONT of the needle. It is important to know this as it will come up again when I go over how to make the knit and purl stitches.
Once the stitch is knitted it easy to see why the leading leg is behind the needle. It becomes the left side of the knit stitch.
Please leave comments below. This website is a new adventure for me and your feedback will help me make it a better resource for you. If you have any tutorials you would like to see, please leave that in the comments below as well.
-Karen
Congratulations on launching your new website! Beautiful picture tutorial!
Thanks, Sue! I am glad you like it!
Just found your site. It looks great.
I’m in serious need of a tutorial on two-color brioche knitting. Your cast on video is great. But I keep getting light yarn strands all over the dark side of the work when I continue on. The light rib looks perfect, but not the other side. Must be something wrong with my YOslip technique. I’ve tried 20 ways and get 20 wrong results.
Any suggestions? Thanks
Thank you!! My mom and 12 year old keep trying to show me how to knit. I finally looked up left handed knitting and found this, thank god. I now see how confusing it is … They can’t show me left handed and I get even more confused trying right handed. Your explanation about the looping and directions are awesome. Thanks, again.
Hi,
So glad to see another lefty out there! Did you know the images for the M1L post are missing? Love your info! Btw, I am a cheddarhead by birth…from near Madison!
I have been knitting for over 40 years and I had to learn everything I know the hard way! I’m glad others won’t have to do what I did. When I first started seriously knitting from patterns about 20 years ago I knitted a whole sweater with twisted stitches. I simply didn’t realize it. I’ve had to constantly correct myself, especially with increases and decreases at the end of rows. I always forget to switch k2tog and ssk stitches. It really affects how the edge looks.
Just ran across your site.
Like everything in life, there are very few absolutes. My only concern about your instructions is that you say to knit left handed the leading leg is in the back. when I knit, my leading leg is in the front. I knit left handed, or as some would call it – mirror.
Thank you for helping us lefties. Been trying for years to learn.
Really want to take the time now and learn.
You are most welcome!
I just pulled stitches in a middle of a pattern. I post added a lifeline but didn’t wind up using it. I managed to get the “new” row of loops back on the cable, but now I don’t where I am in pattern.
Bottom line need help “reading” what I’ve knitted. Right side/wrong side, rows, etc.
Check your email. I sent you a reply
Hi,
As I knit mirror/left handed, I am always researching for new information, etc. I found some of your stitch instructions confusing until I realized that you knit with the leading leg in back. Do you have instructions for left handed knitters who knit with the traditional western stitch orientation?
Denise
Longstanding frustrated left handed knitter here, I’ve recently found your website, great job Karen! I can now longtail cast on successfully. So many do not get that left handers are so often left brained too, so interpreting patterns and transposing instructions in mind boggling 😊
Do you have instructions for lefties on decrease methods anywhere please? x
Yes, if you look at the categories on the right hand side of the page you will see the label, “decreases”.
Please check out my youtube channel on the longtail cast on. I recently put one up that doesn’t create twisted stitches.
Thanks Karen, will do 😊 x
Thank you so much for your work. You really helped me to understand my knitting better and most of all find a knitting style that is comfortable for my hands and doesn’t twist my stitches. I am so grateful for the internet and all the kind people that invest their time in teaching others. I am the only lefthanded person in my family (technically my parents are also lefthanded, but they were forced to switch their dominant hands from left to right as children) and even though it is not a big deal most of the time when it came to knitting nobody was able to figure out what I was doing “wrong”. Thank you again and all the best wishes from Europe.