Talk Back!
I'm a lefty and I knit like a right-hand knitter...I guess I'm mostly ambidextrous, but my mom (who taught me) is very left handed, but also knits right handed. I guess I don't personally see teaching lefties to knit right handed as detrimental.
Oh man, that outfit is priceless! Are those stripes or ribbing? (please let it be ribbing . . .) She looks like she's wearing ribbon candy. I love this stuff. When I read the earlier post that said you had K-Tel needles, I just knew they were used to make somethng as faboo as this.
Can I just say that Panda is one of the cutest dogs ever? I always love when you post pictures of her. And getting tucked in is one of my most favorite things. 
Bon, thanks for your thoughts on lefty/righty knitting.
Debbie, I believe the stripiness is a sort of garter stitch. You have also won a perminant place in my heart for loving my dog. Hey, I'm easy that way. ;o)
Hey there Marnie--
So glad that you received the K-tel info. The pantsuit is stylin' but the Open Mesh Miniskirt is tres fly.
Panda is very adorable: a little cuddle bunny.
--Michelle
egads, what an outfit! ooh, i know! considering the amount of time and effort that had to go into creating such an outfit, it has to be ribbed so that it will continue to fit regardless of how much weight she gain or lose for the remainder of her life.
I'm a lefty and have been knitting for 20 years. It would have been an even longer time if my Brownie leaders hadn't shaken their heads and said, "Ooh, a lefty, we don't know how to teach her, this is going to be really hard for her." That convinced me I couldn't do it.
There's no need for any special kind of instruction for lefties, in my opinion. Knitting uses both hands, so go ahead and teach 'em any way you're familiar with. If they complain that they can't do it because they're left-handed -- don't buy it!
The only time there's an issue is if I have to pick up stitches around a neckline or something, and the instructions say to start at the right edge and work to the left. I just start at the left and go the other way. Kitchener stitch / grafting was a bit of a challenge, so I just learned to do that with my right hand rather than figure out how to reverse the instructions. My hands are way smarter than my brain.
Above all, don't tell them it's going to be hard. It isn't, or at least not any harder than it is for a right-handed adult to learn to knit.
Have fun!
Try using a mirror, have your student watch your hands in the mirror.
Panda is dogalicious! Barktabulous. That photo is precious!
Instead of a mirror, try sitting directly across from the leftie (that's if you knit and crochet right-handed). Let the person watch you for a while. Just be sure you're knitting or crocheting very slowly. Then sit next to the newbie make sure he or she is set up correctly and headed in the right direction. As the person begins to feel comfortable, return to sitting directly across from him or her knitting or crocheting slowly. It's worked well for several of my friends.
Here's a nice little discussion of the matter:
http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/
artic...efthanded.shtml
I am lefthanded, and I taught myself to knit from books and the internet, and I just knit right handed. It's never been a problem for me.
Panda is a SCHMOO. SO CUTE.
I'm with the people who say it doesn't matter. Learning to knit has a whole range of difficulty for people, so you can't really say it's going to be harder for a lefty to learn to knit in the standard way. I know an instructor who teaches lefties to knit continental, which is easy for him to teach without confusion; maybe you could try that?
Hey there, I'm a lefty but the best advice a right handed knitting instructor ever gave (after listening to me complain about how hard it was to find a left handed knitting teacher) me was this... "Sweetie, I don't understand why it seems so difficult to you because you knit with both hands." And suddenly everything made sense. I carry the yarn in my right hand.
I do crochet left handed though, and learned by watching my right handed grandmother in the mirror.
Oh, and your dog is supercute!
Knitting isn't really a left or right hand operation, stranding the yarn can be. If you teach a left hander to actually knit form the right to left needle, all the pattern instructions will be reversed. As long as they know how to cover that issue, reverse shaping instructions, it should be a problem. Teaching them to do regular continental is just a matter of showing them to motion, you don't have to excel at it.
I'm with a lot of the previous posters. I'm left-handed but knit right-handed. No biggie!
In this case (and only this case?), right is alright!
Ann
Oh, my...this whole left-handed thing...I'm left handed and I knit left handed. Knitting might use both hands, but one hand does the sticking-the-needle-in-the-loop part, and to me, that just wasn't happening right handed. Just for kicks, why don't you rightys try doing that with your other hand. Bet it's not very comfortable.
I've taught a right hander how to knit, she mirrored me and learned that way.
There are many, many people who knit left handed. For more information (along with a great editorial from one of the members), go to the gnittik-for-lefties group on yahoo:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gn...nk-for-lefties/
Your dog is adorable! We have two black and white cats, both of which we considered naming "Panda". Great name!
Nichole
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