crochetcrochet: First timer

Sarah (

drawwithcrayons) wrote in

crochetcrochet,
@ 2008-05-19 19:54:00

First timer
Hey everyone, I have a question!
I have a friend who wants to come to our stitch n bitch night, but she doesn't know how to crochet. I could teach her some v. simple stuff, BUT she is left handed and I am not. Any good tips on how to show a lefty how to crochet?
<3

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	rachelk121 2008-05-20 12:03 am UTC (link)
	as a lefty... teach her how to do it right handed, i had no problems learning and the left handed instructions confused me to no end (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jacquez 2008-05-20 12:46 am UTC (link)
	IAWTC. My left-handed grandmother crocheted the right-handed way just fine. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	drawwithcrayons 2008-05-20 01:11 am UTC (link)
	She won't be able to do it right handed (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Are you certain about that?

irishlacenet
2008-05-20 01:38 am UTC (link)

There are differing levels of handedness. I'm right-handed, but I found when I was a child that if the only scissors in the box were lefty scissors, I could use them pretty easily - with my left hand. My mother, OTOH, is extremely right-handed. My point is... If you're just assuming that she won't be able to do it right-handed, you may be wrong.

Now, if she really is strongly lefty, then that's a different matter. I believe that my righty grandmother taught one of my lefty cousins to crochet by having her mirror the movements. (And my cousin does lovely work.) If I had to teach a lefty, I think I would go a step further and set up a mirror... Actually, I would wear it like the front of a sandwich board, and prop it on my lap, so that when I crocheted, she would do a direct imitation of what she's seeing in the mirror. That would allow her to imitate you, and you to see what she's doing and correct her if she's doing something really strange.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Are you certain about that? drawwithcrayons 2008-05-20 01:52 am UTC (link)
	I find that most people who are missing their right hands have a very difficult time not doing things with their left hands. I may try having her mirror what I do. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Are you certain about that?

irishlacenet
2008-05-20 09:47 am UTC (link)

Indeed, if someone is missing a right hand, working righty becomes rather difficult.

Now, was that comment designed to show that yes, at times, you can be sure that a lefty can't work righty? Or was it your way of letting us know that your friend is missing her right hand?

Because if she's missing her right hand, having her mirror the motions is the easy part. The harder part will be figuring out a way for her to hold the fabric that she's working into and get a good tension on the yarn.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: Are you certain about that?

irishlacenet
2008-05-22 11:03 am UTC (link)

I've been thinking about this some more...

I crochet righty. My right hand controls the hook. Most of the movements of my right hand are gross-motor type. They come from the wrist or the elbow. (I use the pencil hold, but I believe this would be true for the knife hold too.)

The left hand, though... That's the finger work. That's the hand that tensions the yarn, and the one that inches its way along the fabric to bring the next area into position.

And that means that it would be easier to find/create adaptive technology to hold the hook in place than to manage the yarn and fabric. With the hook, there will be some fiddling as height and angles are optimized, but after that, it can remain pretty fixed. Things would vary depending on whether the person has a prosthetic and the range of motion for that prosthetic, but all in all, this should work, even if the only thing you can do is duct tape a hook to the edge of a table.

For the fabric and yarn? That would have to be some fancy adaptive technology.

So yes, I've come to the conclusion that if a person had no useful right hand and wanted to crochet, I would teach that person to anchor the hook somehow and guide the yarn and fabric with the left hand. In other words, I would teach that person to crochet righty.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Are you certain about that? drawwithcrayons 2008-05-22 11:27 am UTC (link)
	thank you for your thoughtful input! We'll see what happens :) She's a very resourceful woman, so if she wants to crochet, she's going to crochet :) Thanks to everyone for their input! :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sayga 2008-05-20 03:36 am UTC (link)
	I can crochet right AND left handed, so maybe she could too...? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	beccastareyes 2008-05-20 12:09 am UTC (link)
	I'm a righty, but I've found plenty of You-Tube videos demonstrating stitches. It's a bit better than diagrams. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	iconoclast_dawn 2008-05-20 12:23 am UTC (link)
	http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=npatroni&p=r This user has some good ones. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	drawwithcrayons 2008-05-20 01:12 am UTC (link)
	Thanks! i will check it out! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	drawwithcrayons 2008-05-20 01:12 am UTC (link)
	Good thinking, I will check it out (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hp5freak 2008-05-20 12:54 am UTC (link)
	As a lefty myself, I learned from my right-handed mother by mirroring...I sat in front of her and watched what she did and mimicked just in the opposite direction. I crochet better than her now..... :D (Reply to this)(Thread)

	drawwithcrayons 2008-05-20 01:11 am UTC (link)
	Hmm...this might work... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bean668 2008-05-20 02:14 am UTC (link)
	IAWTC - I am a lefty and learned from mirroring. I actually have found that it is easier for me to teach righties than lefties for this reason as well. It seems to be easier for people to sit across from me and just pretend like they are looking at a mirror, than to have lefties sit next to me and try to crochet. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	crystella74 2008-05-20 03:29 pm UTC (link)
	Mirror her - agreed. But also, SPEAK the steps, not just SHOWING. Tell her how you do it - push the hook through from front to back, wrap the yarn towards you, etc. If you SHOW and TELL, she shouldn't have any problem. (Reply to this)(Parent)

1011100010
2008-05-20 04:14 am UTC (link)

Being lefty is at times irritating but you have to realize every lefty has to encounter being in a right handed world, I'm sure if you just show her the way you do it she will be able to easily follow. I'm extremely left hand dominant (to the point that i barely use my right hand to do anything for some reason) and my mum is right handed, and I learned just fine and that was when i was in 6th grade. Good luck teaching her! :)

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