In the pre-ravelry days, I knitted a pair of socks very similar to these. I still wear them regularly, and when at my friend Laura’s house, she saw my socks and really wanted a pair of her own. Who am I to deny a close friend hand-knitted socks?

These are just plain, cuff-down stockinette socks. I’m knitting these on a 2.5 mm 9-inch circular; it’s my first time using a tiny circ. I actually really enjoy it. I find knitting on dpns sort of hard on my wrists sometimes, and the magic loop/two circs technique isn’t my fave (I know, I’m sorry, I just feel like I spend as much time feeding needles through loops as I do actually knitting).

I’ve been knitting these on the subway or in various cafes in the city. And as someone who frequently knits in public, I’m used to people asking what I’m knitting. But when an older lady slid over to get a better look at my knitting while on the subway, I was totally unprepared for her question.

Nice Older Lady:”You’re left handed, aren’t you?”
Me: “…..uum, yes. How can you tell?”
Nice Older Lady: “I’m teaching my granddaughter to knit, and she’s left handed too. I’ll have to tell her that left handed knitters can do just as well!”

So, are there any fellow southpaw knitters out there? Is there really a difference? I knit ‘English style’  (I’m a thrower, not a picker). I never thought it mattered- for crochet, yes, because I hold my hook in my left hand, but for knitting… the only time I find it affects anything is when I do a long tail cast on, since it is technically backwards (I hold the needle in my left hand).

Fellow knitters, help me out- can you actually tell if someone is left handed when they are knitting?