Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It's time for a left-handed knitting RANT

In the peace and quiet of my life, bursts of stupid people occasionally happen. I try to remain alloof, I try to be calm, but when I realize you are poisoning perfectly helpless new knitters I must speak out (again.) I have ranted about the left-handed knitting topic previously and do not want to beat a dead horse, but the knitting community appears to be tuning an incredibly DEAF ear to this subject. Knitters beware. If I even hear you HINT that a left-handed person MUST be taught to knit right handed because [insert stereotype and myth here] then I will poke you so hard with size 0 sock needles as to make you think you have been to the acupuncturist. GIVE IT UP! That means you knittinghelp.com and you fuzzygalore.com and a few twerps on ravelry who insist it's a curse. SHUT up and KNIT.
FACT:
  1. Knitting is 2 handed, with one hand being a bit more active or dominant
  2. yarn can be manipulated with either the right or the left hand
  3. stitches can move off the right onto the left needle without hell freezing over
  4. patterns do NOT have to be reversed except for button bands (and that depends on gender) and occasionally asymmetrical patterns
  5. shaping does NOT have to be reserved all the time, it depends on how you knit (that rule applies to right handed combination knitters too)
  6. it is MORE important to understand how to do something than to blindly follow any pattern (so patterns should say "right leaning decrease" instead of K2tog.
  7. Knitting graphs are universal, look for them and use them left to right
  8. My DVD teaches left handed people how to knit LEFT handed correctly, most websites and books do NOT and one wonders how they've been in publication this long with these errors!
  9. ALL knitters deserve to know there's more than one method of knitting out there. Expose yourself to something new, you might like it.

5 comments:

Quiara said...

There's a thread on Knitlist right now, too. I read it and thought "If Diane sees this, she's going to be apoplectic and then possibly kill someone..."

I never talk on Knitlist, but I'm thinking of posting just so the "righties" will STFU. -___-

Diane said...

I'm tempted to pull this post. I was accused of being "militant" by someone on a knitting forum. I think it's the disease, irritability and explosivity are hallmarks of the dementia. I used to be more articulate, but now it hurts my brain to think through the nuances and I just want people to be fair. My approach is not nice sometimes. Perhaps I should just let them poison knitters so that more lefties will be spouting the propoganda of the knitting US masses? It is cumulative, you know? Like Jews being told to fit in (we did and look where it got us! :)) and Gays being told they were wrong so they blended in and had wild private lives. I just wish they would let people knit however they wanted. Would they bash combination knitters this way? NO!

Theresa said...

Go, Diane, go! I personally think you are being remarkably restrained using the size 0/ acupuncture approach. Really, it's not like you are talking about size 14's in bodily orifices. :-) Rant on!

Proudly left, which is right for me!
Theresa

Anonymous said...

Hey Diane, I'm teaching my neighbor to knit, and knew where to look for help if she turned out to be left handed. I've gotten my Ravelry invite, but have yet to post my umpteen projects I've completed since leaving Memphis in November. Hang in there even if you rip out your nails doing it! Love you and miss you...

Huge hugs from Ginger in the Mississippi hills

Linnea said...

Please don't pull this post! I have the same frustrations. It's nice to know that there ARE lefty knitters out there who are as "militant" as I am on the topic. ;)