I'd like to regale you of the tale of how I learned to crochet.
Back in 2006 I had been searching for that one hobby that would be "my thing". Up until that point, I had tried so many different types of crafts, and I have a craft room full of stuff to show for it. With every new hobby I picked up, I would buy the supplies to get me going, be super excited about it for a short while, and then my enthusiasm would fizzle out.
Crochet was one of those hobbies.
As an avid crocheter now, I am not ashamed to admit that I picked up crochet with a lot of interest, but that interest also fizzled out quickly. Here's one of the reasons...
None of the tutorials I could find were for lefties. 😞
But I'm jumping ahead.
So, back to my 2006 soul searching for "my thing"... At the time, I was fresh out of college and living in Terre Haute, Indiana, and I distinctly remember going into Joann Fabrics with my aunt to pick up some items she needed for her quilting. While walking around the store aimlessly, I found myself admiring all the beautiful yarn.
I thought, "could this be my thing?" (Spoiler alert: yes.)
After seeing that yarn was cheap, and so is a crochet hook, I decided to give it a try.
After telling my aunt about my newfound inspiration, we began looking at all the pamphlets and books about crochet on display in the store so that I could take one home and learn. It only took a glance into one "beginner" crochet book to realize an issue.
All of the diagrams and pictures were for right-handers.
Now, generally, I wouldn't let something like that slow me down. It would just take an extra amount of focus to try and "reverse" all of the directions to wrap my mind around what I should be doing. But after looking at that first book and trying to decipher the 'lefts' to rights' and 'counter-clockwises' to 'clockwise' and 'arrows pointing to the left' should be 'arrows pointing to the right' my head was spinning (clockwise).
After pointing out my frustration to my aunt, we scoured all of the books and pamphlets on display to find one that had diagrams/descriptions of at least both right- and left-handed instructions.
Finally, we came across a pamphlet titled "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting!" 🤣🤣🤣 LOL...I'm not even joking.
I was so excited to actually have found something that made sense!! So, I purchased that pamphlet, one skein of Red Heart Super Saver, and a size H crochet hook and was on my way home with a new mission: I would learn to crochet.
Now, at this point you might be thinking, "What's the big deal? Just look it up on YouTube. There are a lot of different online resources to learn crochet."
And that is certainly true...today.
Remember, this was in 2006, which seems like not that long ago (to me), but as I type this, 2006 was 13 years ago.
The internet was not an "everyone has it in their home" thing at that point.
It all went mostly well from there on out. Using that pamphlet, I made a couple of small swatches to familiarize myself with the basic stitches. Then I jumped right in and decided to start a blanket. 🙄 ...a blanket that I wouldn't finish for many years to come. Also, one of only two non-baby-blanket-sized blankets I've ever made to this day.
After jumping right in to starting that blanket, I worked on it solidly for at least several weeks, if not months. At the time, I thought I was just doing double crochets over and over. I didn't realize until years later when I finally picked the project back up to finish it that I had actually been doing half-double crochets and didn't realize it. LOL
Then, life happened. I moved a few states away for my job, my "blanket" was stashed into a box, and I mostly forgot about it. Over the next couple of years, I moved several times, and that blanket just stayed in its box and moved from place to place with me.
Then something great happened. My interest was renewed!
In about 2009, I had made a couple of new friends and we started getting together once a week to have dinner and watch a tv show we all liked. These friends of mine expressed interest in learning to crochet. And, crocheting quickly became a thing we could all do together on those tv nights.
I was finally excited to crochet again because I had friends who were excited about crochet, too!
Through the continued support of friends that had the same interest in crochet, we all learned (and I re-learned) together. I became more and more comfortable with the knowledge that crochet really had become "my thing."
I eventually broke that half-finished blanket free of its box and finished it!
After much time had passed, I became much more comfortable looking at something in a right-handed crochet chart or demonstration and knowing how to adapt it to my own lefty crochet work.
In this modern age when everyone now has easy access to all the resources online and the ease of learning almost anything from YouTube and blogs, it is no longer impossible to find help as a lefty.
In the spirit of guiding some lefties who may also feel lost in the sea of right-handedness, I've compiled a short list of resources that may help mitigate some of the frustration you may feel when trying to learn to crochet.
Crochet Resources for Lefties
This post has so much helpful information, including tutorials for each basic stitch and other resources for lefties.
Here you will find videos for both left- and right-handed crochet patterns. She also has a blog, leftinknots.com, that has tons of free patterns. Most, if not all, have left-handed images.
Designer Maggie Weldon has hundreds of crochet tutorials on her YouTube channel, each with a left-hand version.
Mikey from The Crochet Crowd guides you through learning crochet.
Pinterest is my go-to search engine for all things crochet (and craft) related. You will garner hundreds of results by searching for "Left Hand Crochet". Some are for free patterns, some for free tutorials, some to paid classes, and of course, some to something completely unrelated to your search terms because that's how online searches work. LOL!
Whether you're just starting out as a lefty crocheter, or like me, you've just muddled through the learning process, know that you are not alone in the search for resources. I like to tag my crochet photos on Instagram with the hashtag #leftycrochet and I encourage you all to use that tag, as well! ☺️ Maybe it will help us find each other so we can commiserate on the struggles of being a lefty.
Also, as I continue on the journey of this blog, I am unapologetically left-handed. It's what I am: a lefty. That doesn't mean I will intentionally exclude right-handers, but I won't pretend to know what it's even like to be right-handed. Any descriptions or patterns I post will be how I make things, not how I assume someone who's right-handed might make things. There's unlimited resources for right-handers to learn from; I'm going to share my experiences here, and I am left-handed. 👍