How to correct a bad habit forming

[TestifyToLove]

Dd proudly showed me how she's mastered using a hook, after months of nothing but finger crochet. And, I did a good job praising her. But, I'm afraid she's going to be seriously limited in her crocheting skills if she continues to crochet the way she is doing it.

 

I'm going to try and explain this, so bear with me. I'm a leftie. The entire reason its been SO hard for her to learn to crochet (its taken us 2 years now) is because she cannot convert my leftie technique even when doing the mirror image technique (having her sit in front of me so she does the precise opposite).

 

As a leftie, when I crochet, my crochet is exactly and precisely reverse the normal. What she is doing is holding her hook in her left hand. *BUT*, she's still crocheting in the right handed direction and angle. So, she's bringing her hook outward and then pointing it in towards her body to go through the stitch. And, she's going left to right in direction but on the side of the work oppsite her body.

 

Basically, I think if she would flip her hook into her right hand, she would have a perfect pattern. But, she says the hook feels awkward in her right hand and slows her done. I just don't think she can do fancy stitches with her technique. She's having to wrap the yarn around the work and her arms to get it closest to her body and bring it up with the hook.

 

I cannot crochet right handed at all. In almost all things, I can switch from left to right and I'm just not as neat. But, when I try to crochet with the right hand...my mind is completely blank and I cannot figure out where to even place my hook. So, modeling crochet for her in the right handed method is not going to work. The only other crocheter in the house is the 6 yo. He's ambidextrous. He just learned to crochet in a classic leftie style and was good to go. He can't model it for her either. I don't know anyone else who crochets.

 

Can I help her fix this? Do I need to take her to a class where the teacher can help her figure out what she's doing? Can you master crocheting with this technique and should I just leave her alone to develop her own personal style?

[pretty_bug01]

I would then try to teach her left handed then, but that would be personal preference. I think that because if she is comfortable using her left hand than she is just ambidextrous in crocheting.

[birdlady1]

What she is doing is holding her hook in her left hand. *BUT*, she's still crocheting in the right handed direction and angle. So, she's bringing her hook outward and then pointing it in towards her body to go through the stitch. And, she's going left to right in direction but on the side of the work oppsite her body.

 

It sounds like the way I crochet. I'm a lefty and I think I learned from a righthanded person. It's actually not a bad looking stitch and I have hadn't too much trouble with following patterns. I've been doing it this way for over 20 years and didn't realize I was crocheting backwards until a few weeks ago!

 

But since she is new to crocheting essentially, it probably would be a good idea to "insist" on her practicing the more accepted way.

[The Crochet Fanatic]

If you have a Michael's nearby, they may offer classes. The one near me sometimes has free classes or classes where they do small projects that only cost a couple of $.

My situation is just the opposite. My niece wants to learn but she is left handed and I am right handed. But she will be off to college in a few weeks so she doesn't have time to learn right now.