To the Left to the Right to the Chart

    I am a left handed knitter.  A true left handed knitter.  This used to be a HUGE problem.  Now it is something that I am aware of and only occasionally causes minor set backs.  I am a left handed knitter because I was first a right handed crocheter.  I had to teach my self to knit, because no one else in my family did and I didn't yet know what a yarn store was so...  I found a book at Hobby Lobby that teaches crochet, knitting, tatting and embroidery.  I started with the right handed directions and just couldn't get the yarn to cooperate in my right hand, so I turned the page and the yarn was tensioned on the left hand, like when I crochet!  Yea!

These instructions, unbeknownst to me were true left handed knitter instructions.  I started knitting baby clothes and blankets.  All is well.  I found a local knitting group to get help when I messed up and slowly learned how to correct my mistakes and that there is more than one way to cast on.  I learned to yo properly and then work it correctly on the return row, all was going well, until...
The "KISS" dishcloth.  During this time I had taught my mom to knit, true left handed as well.  She found a knitting community on line as she worked full time and couldn't go to the community group I attended.  One was a weekly dishcloth.  I really liked this "KISS" dishcloth and so I made it.  Can you guess what happened?  The word was backwards!  I was so surprised and confused.  Perfectly backwards.  How in the world did I manage that?  I moved on and avoided things with words.  Most pictures were find because if they turn out backwards it's usually okay.
A yarn store opened not too far from the house and they were offering a lace knitting class.  I was interested in lace and so I signed up.  When I arrived we were handed charts.  I had never seen a knitting chart before and was interested.  This could be faster than all the letters and numbers. Will the leftiness be an issue?  I followed the chart exactly as the instructor told us to.  Stitching from the number to the left on the public side and from the number to the right on the return.  When we returned two weeks later to finish our fichu, small shawl, mine looked just like everyone else's!  I was excited but also confused.  I asked the instructor why "when I knit opposite of everyone does mine look the same?"  I explained about the "KISS" cloth and she was at a total loss and couldn't help.
Now I was on a mission to learn more lace, as I loved it, but I needed to know why it worked.  I found a group online that was lace knitters and they were just about to to start a new KAL.  It was a fairly basic piece and one motif would be released each week.  This would give me the opportunity I needed to experiment.  That's exactly what I did.  My finished piece can be viewed here.  I refer to this piece as my knitting identity crisis.  I learned so much.  I am still "poor thing" a true left handed knitter.  I just work everything the opposite of what it should be.  Those charts, I start on the side without the number and work towards it.  If it is written I choose if I should chart it and then work it or is it symmetrical?  If it is symmetrical then I can work it as written.  That's why that first little lace shawl worked out, it was a symmetrical pattern.  I can now decrease, increase and cable correctly.  It has been well worth the effort.  I have learned to continental knit as well as Portuguese knit.  I can knit right handed it is just very slow; helpful for teaching though.
For the purpose of this blog post I true left hand knitted a dishcloth with a picture of a cowboy boot on it.  I then knitted the same dishcloth, from the exact same directions Portuguese style, right handed.  You see the results below.

If this pattern had been charted to begin with they would have both come out facing the same direction and the mistakes I found in the written pattern would have also been caught before publishing.  It would also all fit on one page instead of two.
Charts are becoming ever more popular for knitters to use.  Don't be afraid of them, they can be your friend.  As with anything it will take a little time and effort.  I know that charts are not practical for every pattern but they are helpful in most patterns, even if it is just showing the stitch pattern.  In a garment where there is a lot of increasing or decreasing, the making of a chart can be difficult and the reading of that chart is slow as well.
I recently knit these mitts from Hunter Hammersen.  Purportedly. pattern here

I enjoyed them very much and will make them again.  I worked them left handed and the twists of my over lay are the opposite direction of hers.  The increasing in the palm is worked differently for each hand so that the mitt is only for wither the left or the right.  I follow the directions for the right hand and that is my left hand mitt and vice versa.  Like I said some trial and error but not bad.

This tiny lace doily was knit from written instructions, but I knew from the pictures that it was a symmetrical pattern.  The only issue is when the pattern said to move one stitch from the left to the right at the beginning of a round, I did it the opposite direction at the end of the round.  Then worked the crocheted bind off right handed.
I am figuring that I was supposed to be left handed in life, I am not.  When I pick up a new skill that I have never done before, it is most often done left handed.  I taught my mom and my sister to knit.  They are also both true left handed knitters.  My mom works mostly with charts and makes lots of socks.  My sister doesn't often knit any more as she homes schools three young children.  I have now taught my daughter to knit, with whom I was pregnant when I learned to knit.  She is a lefty in life, who knits right handed continental and crochets left handed, go figure.  I have come a long way in the last fourteen years, since I first learned to knit.  The group I went to for help, I now help them.  It has come full circle.  Knitting is a skill that can be as complicated or as simple as you'd like.  I enjoy working with multiple charts, tiny needles and fine thread to make a complicated lace piece, but larger needles, fat yarn and garter stitch have their place too.  How ever you knit, enjoy it!