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Left handed child


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My niece really wants to learn to crochet. She is a lefty and I am a very much righty! She is 11 years old and at a great age to learn. I thought about trying to put together some type of kit for her for Christmas with various different hooks and some yarn, etc to get her going.

 

I am at a loss as to how to teach her though. I have never taught anyone how to crochet really and not sure that she would be able to mirror my images (I have been told I hold my hook different, etc)... I taught myself from a book basically after learning the basics from my mother. Are there any good lefty books that I could give to a child and she may be able to understand somewhat?

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As a true lefty....I do everything with my left hand....please don't teach her right handed.....how would all of you righties like to be told to do something with your non dominate hand? It is true that most of us lefties have to compensate and use our right hands....but, I haven't found life to be all that frustrating.....take the time and try to teach her with her left hand...there are resources out there for left handers...youtube has left handed videos. If she has the desire, she will find what is easier to her.

 

As far as patterns being written mainly for righties???? I crochet a pattern as written and have never had to adjust anything.

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Teresa has some very good left handed crochet tutorials on You Tube, here's 1 of her snowflakes, left handed>>>

She is 1 of the best on YouTube in my humble opinion...

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Thanks for all the links and info! She is very left hand dominant and I would never dream of teaching her or telling her she had to do it right handed. She has tried because it was easier to sit beside and see what she could do but that was strictly her choice to do it that way. I will have to look into this more and see what I can put together for her. I can only imagine the patterns and color combinations she will come up with! Her creative juices run wild and she has a love for colors just as vibrant as her!

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Thank you so much ratdog! I can not wait to start working with her! I think she will be one that if I can just get her to understand the basics she will be able to teach herself and take off from there!

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  • 1 month later...

I was lucky when I learned how to crochet. I am left handed and so are my grandmother and mom who taught me. My sister knows how to crochet but doesn't do it as often as I do and she's right handed. When I see her crochet it's a foreign language. I can't mirror her image for the life of me. After my mom and grandmother taught me to crochet the double crochet stitch I just started with that and made myself a blanket. I now get patterns from online and have many book patterns and I can read them and figure them out just fine. Left handed crocheting is better for me personally I believe. It seems to be much easier too. Goodluck with teaching her:)

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I have flipped through the book and think it will do a good job of helping to supplement the teaching! I can't wait until her and I have a couple of days to sit down and work on it! I think she may come and spend a couple of days with me soon :)

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  • 2 months later...

My almost 6 yr old is a lefty and she is dominate left for sure but she does use her right hand for a mouse on the computer and plays the wii right handed at times. She wants to learn since her big sister did, so now I am going to give it a shot in the near future. I hope her sitting across from me will help. :)

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I'm a lefty, I ended up teaching myself right handed. the lefty instructions were beyond my comprehension (or patience). especially when the MIL said it would be too hard for me to learn. that in itself was a challenge.

 

I don't hold the hook "properly" with my right hand, but it works.

 

definitely teach her left handed.

 

I have to figure out how to teach my right handed 7 year old to crochet (the lefty 9 year old is NOT interested lol). I'm having a terrible time trying to teach her since I hold everything different than 'normal'

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I'm teaching my DDs bff. She is very left handed. We first started lefty and she had such a problem controlling the tension of the yarn with her right hand (hold the hook was a piece of cake for her) that we switched.

 

She having an easier time crocheting rightie.

 

It can't hurt to try - everyone is different - she may be like dd'sbff and find holding the yarn more difficult than holding the hook and by switching it became easier for her.

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I am a lefty, and learned by watching my righty mom and grandmother. It was natural to watch them and go the "same way" they were going, like a mirror image. My 9 yr old step-daughter is right-handed and trying to learn also, she has the stitch part down with her right hand really well, but struggles with the yarn and tension with her left. I think its harder for the young ones to learn the yarn holding because they don't use their opposite hand for much.

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I'm in agreement with SmokeyP...changing a left-handed mentality to a right-handed is not fair to the person or child. Its a mentality issue that causes unnecessary self-consciousness, awkwardness and makes you 2nd guess everything that comes naturally. I am a lefty who had a kindergarten teacher try to make me a righty, until my mom noticed alot of frustration with normal everyday tasks like tying shoes and picking up things. Life now is much easier for lefties - they actually make items now such as scissors that accomodate lefties!!

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I find this thread very interesting! I am a leftie for writing but use scissors in my right hand! When my aunt taught me to crochet she taught mr with my right hand. It just came more naturally to me, and I cant imagine using my left hand for crochet, it would be awkward for me! I think you should take your lead from your niece, see what she is most comfortable doing and take it from there! Definitely have a lot of patience as it is a wonderful thing to do together, your special time with her.

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  • 4 months later...

i crochet right and left handed . i taught myself how to do it because i have a daughter that is left handed. the mirror image worked great for her. i want to add this that she has spiecal needs. but she does great. one other thing i have taught more than my daughter to crochet lefted handed. i just started with the chain then more to single or double crochet.

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The Crochet Guild of America (http://crochet.org) has a drop-down called "Resources." One of them is Crochet Lessons for Left-Handers. Another is Teaching a Child to Crochet.

 

Maybe one--or both?--of these will be helpful, if the OP is still working on this project, or perhaps others are teaching children/young people with opposite-hand dominance.

 

DCM

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