How to Crochet Left-Handed
Follow this left hand crochet tutorial for chaining and single crochet.
Another one for you lefties in the crochet house! In this tutorial, How to Crochet Left-Handed, you can learn how to hold the hook and yarn with your left hand along with how to do a chain stitch and single crochet if you're left-handed.
This is a great tutorial to follow if you're just learning to crochet. All beginners are welcome to try this, especially those who struggle with learning to crochet as left-handed people because most tutorials are for right-handed crocheters.
Join Emi Harrington as she walks you through how to chain and single crochet if you are left-handed. There's no reason southpaws shouldn't be able to crochet as easily as right-handers and you'll see with the steps below that's it's as simple as 1-2-3.
Looking for more? Check out 18 Left-Handed Crochet Patterns for Beginners for some incredible tutorials and patterns made for southpaws.
Materials List
- Crochet hook of choice
- Yarn of choice
How to Crochet Left-Handed
Crochet Chain Stitch Start Left-Handed:
Read and view the images to follow along. Click on any image to enlarge.
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How to hold the hook:
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How to hold the yarn:
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How to begin: Form a loop. Insert the hook through the loop.
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Yarn over the hook.
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Pull the yarn through. One chain stitch formed.
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Photo below shows a sequence of chain stitch.
How to Single Crochet Left Handed:
Read and view the images for working up single crochets using your left hand. Click on any image to enlarge.
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Begin the first row by inserting the hook into the 2nd chain stitch from the hook.
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Yarn over.
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Pull the yarn through the chain stitch.
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Pick up the yarn again. Pull it through both loops on the hook. One single crochet stitch formed.
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Insert the hook through the next chain stitch, repeat steps 2, 3, and 4. Photo below shows a row of single crochet stitches formed.
Read Ema Harrington's bio and her experience with crochet by visiting her designer profile on AllFreeCrochet.
PLUS! For more left-handed crochet patterns, videos, tutorials, and more check out our left-handed crochet tag pages.
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JaneEK
Nov 12, 2018
As a crochet teacher, Ive had numerous Lefties over the years. The first time was as a 16 year old Righty teaching my 12 year old Lefty cousin. There werent the myriad of resources there are today as the internet was still some 20 years away, so I did what I thought was the most logical approach. I seated her directly across from me and had her mirror what I was doing. I still use that method today if I dont have another Lefty crocheter in my class.
pilkington41 18056 80
Apr 29, 2014
I have taught my self but hard to learn the stitches ,I'm a lefty I've done a few blankets with single,double and treble stitches... i've no became home bound n mostly bed bound from a surgery to lumbar in Oct. 2013 now starting back but would love to learn more stitches and different patterens for me to do .. any ideas to learn new things for me i just joined today
jkrohrbr 1555669
Feb 11, 2013
I learned to crochet left handed by watching my mother, who was right handed. She taught our Brownie troop how to make granny squares for an afghan we gave to a nursing home. I later taught myself how to knit by looking at an instruction book. I purled wrong until my cousin Barb asked what the twisted stitch was and I showed her how I did it. She said I was throwing the yarn the wrong way over the needle! My question is: why do right-handers knit and crochet from right to left [we read from left to right] and say lefties are backward!!
ElizabethEaston1 3 728002
Nov 16, 2011
I learned how to crochet from my beloved grandma who devised an ingenious method of helping me learn how to follow right-handed directions She put two chairs close together at her dining room table then placed a large mirror on the table She being right-handed naturally couldn't crochet backwards so when she started off with making a simple chain she positioned her hands the yarn and the hook so that I could see them all in the mirror The image looked exactly how a southpaw should follow the pattern In just a few days I mastered single crochet and my first project was to make two dishcloths - one for my wonderful mom and one for my patient loving grandmother Years later I was granted the honor of crocheting my niece's christening outfit After the service was older and my sister handed her baby daughter to Grandma you could tell that…Read More the look of pride in her eyes was not just for my niece but for the very special dress I had made for this special day I am now working on designing prayer shawls and I still give Grandma all the credit for the great joy I still get from taking a ball of yarn and turning it into a beautiful thing
martinelli
Feb 18, 2013
ElizabethEaston1 3728002 Interesting how your Grandma taught u to crochet, I'm a leftie, my daughter is a rightie, I taught her to crochet, right handed, by sitting in front of her & she saw a mirror image doing everything I did with my L-hand, with her R-hand. It worked. I couldn't teach her how to knit, though, as I did knitting backwards and couldn't knit. She did learn from a R-hand friend, years later.
couponskristie 367 3646
Nov 02, 2011
I'm left handed, and like most "southpaws", I do a lot with my right hand. I also crochet and knit right-handed. I could probably learn to do it left handed, but I'm not interested right now. It is possible, though. I am ambidextrous if I want to be. :)
Lynn Nowak
Nov 01, 2011
I'm left handed for writing, eating, and a few other things. I knit, crochet, do embroidery and use scissors with my right hand. I forced myself to learn to do as many things as I could right handed. It worked and I'm glad. Don't ask me to sign my name or do any type of writing with my right hand though. That's one thing I was never able to do right handed. : )
nadah 7077280
Oct 31, 2011
I beleive I was about 7 or 8 when I sat with my grandma, who was from Russia, asking her to show me how to crochet. She was right handed but so loving in trying to show me simple stitches. After learning basics from my grandma, I learned more on my own (self taught). I am still learning to this day: new stitches, patterns, etc.
Sher71
Oct 30, 2011
I don't know at what age i learned to crochet, but i know that i sat across from a right handed person and learned that way. Knitting was very hard and i just didn't like it and still don't. But i have enjoyed crocheting and have made many different kinds of things from afghans to toys and clothes. I always had difficulties reading patterns and now i can understand them much better as i get older.
TallStacks
Oct 30, 2011
My wonderful mom taught me to crochet when I was ten. She would sit on the other side of the table and I would mimic her right-handed movements. It worked like a charm. And as an adult, I was able to teach my left-handed niece how to crochet, which was very fulfilling.
cbeck5723 6284564
Oct 30, 2011
My Aunt Grace and a lady I used to babysit for, Jean, taught me to crochet. They were both right-handed. I am left-handed. At first it was discourging because they would watch me say I was doing it wrong and then take out several stitches and then realize I was doing it correctly. That only happen a few times. I only make a afghans, because I never got the hang of following a pattern very well.
crafter8
Oct 29, 2011
My mom taught me how to crochet. She would sit across from me and I would duplicate what she did. She was right handed and I am left handed. I have been crocheting almost 40 years now. I really enjoy and I had my mom to thank for teaching me. She also made sure I could read a pattern so that when I saw a pattern I wanted to make, I would be able to.
zlata1206 7744651
Oct 29, 2011
I am lefthanded and taught myself to knit when I was about 12 by holding a "learn to knit" booklet in front of a mirror!!!! However, no one could teach me to crochet until I was in my late 20's and a neighbor who was also a lefty taught me.
Artymiss
Oct 29, 2011
I am a lefty and was taught by a very patient aunty when mum gave up in dispair - funny though, I knit right-handed!
phylbill 4918764
Oct 29, 2011
I'm left-handed. I first learned to knit and I think my mother taught me basic chain when I was about 14. I taught myself after that. Perhaps because of the knitting background, I hold the hook in my right but my left gets very much involved with the yarn and the material, so its kind of a combined effort. I tried the mirror approach and a few others to crochet left-handed but this works for me. I also hold the hook like a knife. I can't even attempt to hold it like a pencil as some people do, since I never held a pencil in my right hand.
sschultz642 051727 4
Oct 29, 2011
I am strictly left handed.. Couldn't find any one to teach me, so i learned to crochet right handed. Any project I complete. I am proud of myself, because it is a challenge for me. :))
jahnee
Oct 29, 2011
I am a lefty and learned to knit and crochet by sitting facing my aunt and watching her make beautiful afghans and sweaters!
lucysommer82633 59 90226
Oct 29, 2011
My Aunt is a lefty. She tried teaching me to crochet when I was a teenager...but, I just couldn't get it turned around. It was years later that a right-handed neighbor taught me to crochet. Sorry, Aunt. :-)
yoopersinmn 815678 6
Oct 29, 2011
I am a lefty. My grandma (a right hander) taught me by sitting directly accross from me. I've also read that some people righties teach lefties infront of a mirror that way it looks correct for the left hander.
Itsablingthing
Oct 29, 2011
My grandmother was an avid crocheter but since I'm left-handed she thought it would be too daunting a task to teach me. So, it wasn't til I was in my 30's that I bought a how-to book and learned to crochet, right-handed. I have no difficulty whereas left-handed crocheting looks awkward and the directions too confusing for me. Btw, my dad, my daughter, my ex, and two grandsons--one with a right-handed twin sister--(but none of my daughter's kids) are lefties, too. Luckily, none have expressed an interest in learning to crochet!
sultanamuz 3466706
Oct 29, 2011
I learned how to crochet from a friend who is right-handed. From that point on, I would just follow pattern directions by duplicating them using my left hand. Sometimes it's hard to learn some stitches. Do you have any videos on how to make front post and back post stitches?
jbristowca 8982416
Oct 28, 2011
I was taught by another lefty. However, in learning new stitches I just watch a tutorial and duplicate the results in my other hand. I don't find it that hard.
britl923 0436884
Oct 28, 2011
I learned by watching and copying what my mother in law did, but through a mirror. I have recently learned to knit, but I knit the right handed way.
Marjorie0525
Oct 28, 2011
I am left handed but I crochet with my right hand. I taught myself how to crochet when I was young...I was about 12 or 13 years old. I love crocheting and enjoy doing it to relax.
chunicorn
Oct 28, 2011
This is GREAT. I learnded from my right handed mother by her sitting beside me. It worked very well but I sometime forget how to do a stitch. Now I can look it up. Thanks for taking care of us leftys. Celia Henry
phelpspowell 80867 15
Oct 28, 2011
I learned to crochet facing knee to knee with right handed person. By looking this way they are crocheting in the direction Of a left hander .
chrisandjen562 432 9617
Oct 28, 2011
I'm left handed writer but my husband taught me to crochet right handed and that's how I do it ;)
Nikki5150
Oct 28, 2011
Several people tried to teach me to crochet when I was young but everyone was right-handed My step-father was a carpenter and used to try to teach me how to use every tool right-handed because as he said the world is set up for righties you wont be able to do anything left-handed Now most everything feel natural to me right-handed except writing eating and crochet I taught myself in my late teens using a book of patterns I went and bought the most challenging pattern book I could find knowing that if I could learn those I could learn anything I learned the way gloriamars did as she said in her earlier post I sat down with the book in a quiet room by myself and figured it out I don't hold my hook the way the tutorial shows I use my fist I know there is a name for…Read More it but I don't know it Also I control tension by wrapping the yarn around my right pinky just feels more natural to me Rock on South-Paw Hookers
jkcarrithers 81649 86
Oct 28, 2011
I am what my mom describes as, "very left handed" but I crochet right handed because that was the only way she was able to teach me. She sat behind me and moved my hands for me on my first granny square. I've tried to crochet left handed since then, but it just feels awkward.
gloriamars 0043914
Oct 28, 2011
When I learned how to crochet, there were no books on left handed crochet. I had a "Learn to Crochet" book, went into my bedroom, shut the door and read directions out loud then transposed them to the left hand. It worked for me.
Grampat
Oct 28, 2011
I am right-handed but both of my daughters are lefties. The older one was taught to crochet in grade school by a very talented and patient Instructional Aide who taught ALL the students in the class to crochet. Each of them crocheted a square and she assembled all the squares in an afghan which was raffled off at the school bazaar. This daughter has focused on counted cross stitch lately but I would love to see her pick up crochet again.
ladyolove 5848600
Oct 28, 2011
Mom sat me down in front of her to mirror her moves - that's how she taught me. http://www.craftsy.com/craftsyer/87883
mbinder 4782635
Oct 28, 2011
I'm left-handed and have taught myself by watching my grandmother closely and trying till I got the same effect. It has been a lot easier since I got the internet ;)
halfpint62 2352124
Oct 28, 2011
When I was 5 my mother taught me how to make a chain. She was right handed. Later in years I bought a right handed book to learn more stitches. Didnt know til later they made one for left handers. I knit right handed. Don't know how that happened. HA But enjoy simple easy direction pattern's.
carol g
Oct 28, 2011
I have been crocheting (left-handed) since I was 12 years old. My grandma taught me by sitting on the coffee table across from me while facing me. She crocheted and said do what I do, and it worked. I always thought this was very cleaver of her. Carol Glynn
shonnaboop
Oct 28, 2011
I've taught a left handed crochet-er and I am right handed. I had a med. sized mirror and crocheted facing the mirror and my friend looked in the mirror. It seemed to work for her and I didn't have to fumble around trying to do it left handed. cheers
PegAnn
Oct 28, 2011
I used to teach crocheting and when I had a left hander in class I would use a small standing table mirror. I would sit directly across from the person with the mirror in between us and I would put my hands and yarn in front of the mirror and crochet as I would normally (I am right handed) and have the person watch my hands in the mirror--it would look lefthanded to them.
paulettem 2219586
Oct 28, 2011
I am a left-handed crocheter. My mother taught me the basics and she was right-handed. I was 8 years old way back in 1958. I have crocheted off and on since then. The more complex stitches are the ones I need help with.
judyntimhenson 206 4861
Sep 16, 2011
I like how you show how its done . I need to know how to do the ripple for a baby blanket can you help?? can you show me bcause i dont read every well i would rather be shown if you can. Thank you judy
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