One in ten crocheters is left-handed and nearly every tutorial is made for the other nine. Here is everything that is actually different — which is less than you fear — and how to learn in your own hand.
By Susi, founder of Crochets · left-handed since day one · updated September 2026
About one in ten people is left-handed, and almost every crochet tutorial, chart and photo is made by and for the other nine. When you follow a right-handed video, you are asked to do live geometry: mirror every movement in your head while your hands try to keep up. That is the hard part — not the crochet. Once the mirroring is removed, left-handed crochet is exactly as easy as right-handed crochet, because it is right-handed crochet in a mirror.
I learned this the slow way — holding my phone up to a bathroom mirror to flip videos — and it's the reason Crochets has a left-handed version of every lesson. This guide is what I wish someone had handed me in week one.
Hold the hook in your left hand, either like a pencil (hook resting between thumb and index finger, pointing down) or like a knife (hand over the top). Neither is 'correct'; try both for ten minutes and keep the one that doesn't make your wrist ache.
The yarn is tensioned in your right hand. The most common wrap: yarn over the little finger, under the ring and middle fingers, and over the index finger, which becomes your 'yarn post'. Your right index finger controls tension; your left hand only moves the hook. If your stitches are tight, the fix is almost always in the right hand, not the left.
Right-handers crochet from right to left across a row. You crochet from left to right. That single fact explains every difference:
Symbol charts are drawn for right-handers: row 1 reads right to left, row 2 left to right, and so on. As a lefty, read the same chart starting from the left on every odd row. Motifs worked in the round read clockwise. If a chart confuses you, take a photo of it and flip it horizontally on your phone — that is now your chart.
Step-by-step photos are the sneakiest: the hook appears to be in the wrong hand and the stitch 'slants the wrong way'. Ignore the slant and copy the position of the hook relative to the stitch — under two loops, around the post, into the space. Position is what matters; direction follows automatically.
Look for teachers who film a separate left-handed version rather than flipping the video (flipped videos have mirrored text and the teacher's voice-over still says 'right'). Bella Coco, Crochet Guru, Moogly (Tamara Kelly), B.Hooked, The Crochet Crowd and Winding Road Crochet all publish true left-handed tutorials — the ones in the Crochets stitch dictionary are vetted, mirrored lessons for every stitch that has a video.
No. The movements are identical in mirror image. What's harder is learning from right-handed materials; use left-handed videos or a mirrored chart and the difficulty disappears.
No. Hooks are symmetrical; any hook works in either hand. Choose one with a comfortable grip.
Yes, without changes. 'Next stitch' always means the next stitch in your working direction. Only picture-based colourwork comes out mirrored.
Left to right across rows, and clockwise in the round — the mirror of right-handed crochet.
Only if it feels natural. Most lefties who force right-handed crochet end up with tension problems. Learn in your own hand with mirrored lessons.
Crochets has a left-handed video for every lesson and stitch, charts that read in your direction, and patterns written for the hand you use. Free to start.
Start left-handed, free →