Welcome if you’re a leftie or would like help teaching a left-hander to crochet. I’ll add more info to this page as I go, but here’s some to begin with…
Here’s a link to a copy of a guest post I wrote about left-handed crochet for Kate Goldin’s ‘Crochet Camp’ way back in 2013. It has good tips and tricks, as well as some general info about being a leftie:
https://thelittleroomofrachell.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/left-handed-crochet/
Useful Resources and Books for Lefties:
Crochet Unravelled: A Clear and Concise Guide to Learning Crochet – A very affordable booklet with clear illustrations for both lefties and righties available from Amazon and bricks and mortar yarn/craft shops. It’s what I mainly used to teach myself to crochet and I can’t recommend it enough.
Magazines: such as Inside Crochet and Simply Crochet are pretty good at including guides to crochet for lefties
YouTube:– an amazing wealth of videos, beware that the quality differs but if you want to see a leftie crocheting you’ll find lots and see the different ways people hold their hook and yarn. There is no right way, there’s your way!
Ravelry: There are several Ravelry groups for left-handed crocheters, where I’m sure you would be welcome to ask questions and seek advice.
An experienced crocheter: Try sitting opposite each other, you will hold the hook and yarn in opposite ways but can imitate them ‘mirror image’ style.
Use a mirror: Hold a mirror next to books and illustrations to reverse the image. For the 21st century method: take a screenshot or photo of the graphic pattern or illustration. Then it’s easy to select an option to swap it to a mirror image, using your tablet, Smartphone or computer. Be extra careful if you’re crocheting letters or numbers. Make sure you aren’t crocheting them, so they come out backwards!
NB: You’ve probably noticed that people hold their mugs, pens, wands with their right or left hand, crochet hooks and yarn are no different – hooks can be held in either the right or left hand. I’ve heard of someone who holds BOTH in their left, but it hurts my head to imagine how this works! Some lefties might do exactly as righties, but most hold their hook in the left, yarn around the right hand, many of us wouldn’t be able to crochet any other way.
If you have any questions about crocheting left-handed please ask, or let me know if there’s something you’d like to see here.
The Little Room of Rachell 
I am the Pam that left you a comment! Thank you for writing!!
I’m a leftie as well. Do you have a Facebook page as well?
I do, just search for The Little Room of Rachell
I am left-handed, I can learn easily enough, but trying to teach my right-handed granddaughter is proving difficult. Any tips?
None at all, sorry, unless you read my tips for lefties and reverse!
I’ve been knitting and crocheting left-handed for a long time, but am ready to branch out. My current interests are knitted lace and crocheted cables. I’m just getting started figuring out how to adapt patterns. Thanks for your tips. I will look at videos and experiment. Oh, how I hate ripping and starting over, but I will prevail.
im a left handed crocheter ive been crocheting a long time but would love if someone as cant find anybody on site on internet to show hopw to do letters or numbers from a chart and also written directions do you have anything on that or could tell me for they dont come out backwards ivee been searching for a very long time thanks i have no problem with other stuff just want to do some letters or numbers maybe even on a dishcloth or towel or whatever thanks
You can save the graphic pattern to a computer editing programme, then reverse it to a mirror image. When you crochet it would come out right.
See this Red Heart article on Left-handed crochet, there’s a little about it near the end:
http://www.redheart.com/how-to/articles/ultimate-guide-to-left-handed-crochet
Hi
After a lot of frustration, I realised you have to read or follow the pattern backwards for words. If it’s a written pattern, the last st of the row instructions is a leftys first st,making the 1st at the beginning of the row the last.
If it’s a graph you are following, just follow each row from right to left instead of how you would read a book if that makes sense.
Hope that helps you
Hello Rachel,
I’m a left hander and I taught myself to do basic stitches but I have always struggled following patterns.
I noticed a local yarn shop was running two half days of crochet for lefthanders. I asked if they would be running a further course on following standard patterns. The lady told me that, once you learned how to do stitches using the left hand, there was no problem with using any pattern I wanted. Surely that’s not right? For a start, I know I do granny squares going the opposite way to righthanders!
I have signed up for the course in case she is teaching something I don’t know. But I suspect the difficulties haven’t dawned on the tutor yet!
As an older crafter, what I need is an idiot’s guide to how to reverse charts on the computer.