I have started a book. In my small withering mind, the book is about left-handed knitting. There are two distinct combinations of left-handed knit and purl stitches that result in a flat knitted fabric. There are any number of combinations that do not, stitches are re-oriented and twisted stitches result. In a burst of productivity, I have documented every possible way of knitting left-handed! I mean knitting from right needle to left needle. I even wrote Yarn Harlot (maybe I should send her chocolate again) about her agent. I have absolutely no idea how to get this idea and rough draft to a publishing house. I am now thinking the mind-set will be negative. After all, lefties have been left out of knitting for ages, why would the resurgence of knitting change that? Despite the plethora of knitting books, shows and DVDs there is not one single publication dealing with left-handed knitting. Even those that do give it a mention show only the basic stitches and expect left-handed knitters to use mirrors or PhotoShop to flip more complicated stitch instructions. If it were that easy, why in the world would there be a million dollar publishing industry for right handed knitting? Wouldn't a simple comment be enough? Lefties need printed knitting material too. Not separate patterns.
KnitMythBusters:
The biggest myth in the knitting world is that knitting is 2 handed so lefties can do it the "right way". That's wrong, knitting is 2 handed, but some brains can't wrap themselves around manipulating the yarn with the right hand. The second biggest knitting myth is lefty knitters have to reverse patterns. If righties sat down over an adult beverage and contemplated this comment it might, just
might dawn on them that their very own cardigan patterns say "right front: repeat as for left front
reversing shaping" ::GASP:: You mean they don't have to have it written out exactly opposite? That they can grasp the difference between a right leaning decrease and a left leaning decrease? How CAN that be? Listen knitting siblings, lefties can do it to. And while it may seem like an incredible praise to say to a right to left knitter "it's amazing you can do that" it only shows your bias. Knitting right to left is as easy for their brain as knitting left to right is for yours. It is not rocket science, but a comforting and creative passion that they refuse to be "left" out of.
I hope to have a short article accepted on this topic by a major knitting publication and it is still my dream to find a publisher that recognizes the market for a left-handed knitting book. If righties have to have specific pictures for their increases and decreases, why not lefties? My ideal book will show both methods of creating flat knitting right (needle) to left (needle) and their corresponding increases and decreases. It would be wonderful if a very small DVD accompanied it for the basic stitches. Until some agent sees the merit. This remains just another dream of a Left-out Knitter.
