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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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Why I Learned to Knit Left-Handed

June 26, 2014 7 Comments

Hands Occupied in Let's Knit Magazine - July 2014 at Hands Occupied

A weird thing happened out of nowhere last fall. Weird, but super exciting! I got three emails in a span of two weeks from magazines wanting to work with Hands Occupied in 2014. Finally last weekend, months after those initial emails, I opened my mailbox to find a surprise. A hard copy of my first magazine feature in “the UK’s bestselling knit mag,” Let’s Knit!

Hands Occupied in Let's Knit Magazine - July 2014 at Hands Occupied

Part of being featured in their The Bookshelf series was guest posting over at their blog. The lovely Editor I worked with was very encouraging of my sharing something personal about knitting, and I think it really opened me up as a writer. Since I’m so proud of my first longer-form post on knitting, I though I’d share it here for you all to see. Read on for the piece I wrote for the Let’s Knit blog.

Why I Learned to Knit Left-Handed/I Thought I’d Never Knit Again

My knitting journey began almost 20 years ago. I turned 27 this summer, so yes, I was just a kid when my grandma sat my overly anxious 8-year-old self down to knit for the first time. I had a pair of pink metal knitting needles, and some variegated blue, white and pink yarn. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t really liking knitting at first. I tried here and there as a tween to wrestle with my insanely overtight first “scarf” but struggled to get the hang of it. Then high school rolled around and I finally fell in love.

My best friend and I were the only members of the class of 2005 who took our knitting on band trips and spent time between music rehearsals trading knitting tricks and beginner books.

Around this time, I started having pains in my right hand. I was playing my oboe, doing a lot of homework, and knitting to relax. At some point, your hands actually do need a rest (much to my adolescent disappointment). I was a 14-year-old who never stopped working with her hands, almost ever. Diagnosed with carpal tunnel and tendonitis, I was put in physical therapy, and my doctor recommended I drop something. School was non-negotiable and music was something I’d worked so hard to achieve. So I put down my needles.

A few years later, I found myself on a music scholarship struggling with my fourth or fifth bout of tendonitis and intermittent loss of feeling in my hand. It became clear that music was not a sustainable career option. At just 18, I think I realised that I wanted a slightly more well-rounded life than a career as a classical oboist would allow. (I was a very serious young lady back then!) My hands began to heal, my circle of friends grew, and the next Christmas I realised that I really, really missed knitting. More than I thought possible.

I dug out my tub of yarn and needles and got to work. My skills came back in no time. But then my tendonitis did too.

Why I Learned to Knit Left-Handed at handsoccupied.com

You can’t play the oboe left handed

I was faced with giving up a second creative love, and didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered my grandma, the woman who taught me to knit. She knew no left-handed knitters growing up in a rural area, so she was a leftie who’d been taught to knit right handed. If I was going to be able to keep knitting, I needed to become a primarily left-handed knitter, despite being right handed. My grandma had been doing it her whole life, why couldn’t I figure it out?

After much struggle and a little bit of a time spent practising, I mastered left-handed knitting. The hardest part was swallowing my pride and watching myself struggle (painfully slowly, no less) to make swatches and cables that’d grown used to whipping up alongside wine and my favourite movie.

I wonder what would have happened if left-handed oboes existed – I might have taken a hand-switching journey of an entirely more musical kind. You know what, though? I have a feeling everything worked out how it was meant to in the end.

Some tips for learning to knit with your non-dominant hand.

Unlike the oboe, you CAN knit left handed, right handed, or ambidextrously. Working ambidextrously is fun, especially if you’re working in short rows. It’s like the knitting version of eating corn on the cob, you work back and forth and back and forth without turning your work! Weird, right?

It was so frustrating to learn to knit from scratch again. I was at the point where I was designing some of my own patterns for myself, and very occasionally for my blog. I could cable, knit socks, sweaters, colourwork, complicated blankets. I was very happy with the level of knitting I’d achieved with my right hand, so starting over was very unpleasant at first. I sat down and swatched and swatched, and studied a lot of diagrams and YouTube videos demonstrating how your loops should sit on your needles when knitting left handed.

Here’s what doing a knit stitch left handed looks like. Notice how the loops slant to the left (instead of to the right) on the needles:

How to Knit Left Handed at handsoccupied.com

The biggest things I recommend taking the time to read about, watch videos of, and study when switching the hand you knit with are:

– how your loops should be laying on your needles
– how to cast on with your other hand
– how to do proper reductions with your other hand (all of the reductions you are accustomed to will be laying backwards if you do them working opposite handed)

I’d LOVE to hear what you think – particularly if you’ve ever had struggles that have impacted your ability to practice your craft or passion! For the longest time I thought I was alone, but I’m realizing many of us have dealt with a variety of struggles in our personal and creative lives. It’s great to know you’re not alone!

Filed Under: Knitting & Crochet, My Work Elsewhere Tagged With: carpal tunnel, features, first magazine, how to knit left handed, let's knit, let's knit magazine, magazines, tendonitis

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author, designer & creator specializing in yarn crafts like knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Comments

  1. alicia

    June 26, 2014 at 7:57 am

    Congrats on the features Heidi!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      June 27, 2014 at 2:16 pm

      Thanks, Alicia!

      Reply
      • Agmal

        October 14, 2014 at 5:43 pm

        Reminds of summer ice loleils! What’s the best stitch, needles and yarn for a blanket? I’ve tried to knit squares before with aran weight and they’re always too loose, I want something that’s going to be fairly substantial and actually last years without getting all out of shape.

        Reply
        • Heidi

          October 15, 2014 at 9:39 am

          Hi Agmal! Are you referring to the blanket featured in the magazine? If so, here is the post featuring the pattern, needles and yarn: https://handsoccupied.com/2014/03/simple-basketweave-baby-blanket/. Check that out and let me know if that answers your questions. :) -Heidi

          Reply
  2. Amy Anderson

    June 28, 2014 at 9:57 pm

    OMG I’m so proud of you! Congrats – and cheers to what will surely be the first of many magazine features :D

    Reply
    • Heidi

      June 29, 2014 at 3:01 pm

      Thanks, Amy! :) :) :) :)

      Reply
  3. Jayna

    July 9, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    Woohoo! Congrats Heidi!

    Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts
It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! T It’s time for the monthly review and giveaway! This go around, get to know two new sister yarns from @manosyarnsusa, Marla and Sami, and enter to win a skein of each to try for yourself. 
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What makes these yarns sisters is that, while dyed differently, they’re the same weight and come in intentionally coordinating color palettes. For my review, I opted for a sky-inspired combo of Sami in Natural and Marla in Nube. 🌧️ 
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Check out the full review & enter the giveaway at the link in my bio. 
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If only knitting a whole project took 39 seconds… 😮‍💨 
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In this video, you can see how the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern knits up - two flat panels, one with intarsia, both are blocked, and then they’re seamed. Find the pattern on @hi.ravelry & my website, just search Intarsia Flower Pillow. 🌸 
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P.S. I’m really smiling in this video while seaming the pillow, so I guess I’m proving last week’s claim that I truly enjoy that sometimes-dreaded task. 😆🫣
In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you In knitting, a Left Lifted Increase (LLI) lets you add a stitch in between two columns of stitches that leans to the left. Similar to an M1L, LLIs allow you to increase nearly invisibly.
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To learn more about lifted increases, including when to use them and how they differ from Make 1s, head to the 🔗 in my profle. 
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Have you ever used lifted increases? I used M1’s almost exclusively for a long time when I needed to inc between stitches, but when I designed the Intarsia Flower Pillow pattern, I needed something that would allow me to increase a lot near my cast on, and M1’s resulted in edge curling. The more you know! 🌈 
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Yarn: @lionbrandyarn Wool Ease from my Stash / Neddles: @boyeyarncrafts - Just remembered these are the needles I learned to knit on at age 8. 😂
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Lessons learned: 1️⃣ Trying to knit around 2 toddlers, 2 cats & 2 large dogs is pretty hard. 2️⃣ I learned during water color time that pink and black make “colorful black.” 🩷🖤 3️⃣ Toddlers do NOT care about your rainbow sorting of their toys. 4️⃣ Toddlers are very good at finding mischief in a very short amount of time, what a surprise. 😂
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Weaving in ends & seaming with mattress stitch are Weaving in ends & seaming with mattress stitch are both so useful for garment knitting! But for me, weaving in ends can feel like a chore while the latter feels like I’ve successfully done magic. 🧙🏻‍♀️ Does anybody else run into this phenomenon? Are you the opposite? Any theories as to why they feel different? 
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In this video, I’m finishing my brand new Intarsia Flower Pillow. 🌸 I’m working with @universal_yarn Uni Merino & the pattern is available at the 🔗 in my b1o. 
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