Left Handed Crochet...... How I finally learned!

*Favorite Books and Videos are linked at bottom of post.

When I was a little girl I watched my mother crochet all these beautiful afghans and doilies. I begged her to teach me, she did try I promise. When I was 6 years old, I finally managed to master the chain stitch. That is as far as I ever got. You see I was the only left handed child in a family of 6. Years went by and I tried a few times but gave up until I turned 50.

I was diagnosed with Lymphoma the summer of 2013 and was going to be going through chemo. I knew that with my hyper active mind I wouldn't be able to sit still for long. The only issue was that my body didn't want to cooperate. 

I went on a mission, got out a book I had bought a few years before called, "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting" that had left handed instructions with it. A friend suggested I try YouTube for videos. So I searched and low and behold there were TONS of how to crochet videos but FEW Left Handed videos. Out of those there were just a few that didn't irritate me. I wasn't handling the medications well and they made me quite cranky!

There are more now than there were then but the ones that were the best then are still the best now.

I learn best by reading, seeing, and doing. So between my book, my laptop and hook and yarn. I also must mention here that my 77 year old mother came to stay with me from September through December, sitting next to me gently helping my cranky butt when I needed it. 

I started first with a dish cloth from the book I mentioned earlier, you can find a video of this being taught now on YouTube below. I quickly moved on to another book called 2- Hour Dish Cloths.

Then my mother taught me how to make a rug yarn scrubby for dishes. I even started working on pot holders. I smile now, my sisters, mother, daughter and friends got something I made during my Chemo "Therapy" time. 

I have graduated now I would say to Intermediate or Advanced Intermediate. I still have to double check how to do certain stitches but they are more on the line of more complicated stitches. 

I have gotten so upset at times the hook and yarn go flying across the room, but I keep trying.

I hope the links and books I suggest to you will encourage you to try and learn. Left handed or right handed it doesn't matter, you can do this!!! 

Left handed or Right Handed these are the best I have found
Books:

I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting, Updated Edition

2-Hour Dishclothes

Videos and Tutorials:

Crochet Guru

The Crochet Crowd   Mikey changed up his tutorials but it is still the best in my mind. He teaches you so much in this 30 minute tutorial. I suggest you just bookmark The Crochet Crowd on YouTube and the website here: The Crochet Crowd  He teaches you patterns found for free at Yarnspirations and has discovered how to flip his right handed videos for us lefties. The best out there in my mind.

The Crochet Geek
Right Hand
Left Hand

Also check out this GoodKnitKisses playlist for pattern reading help also. 

YARN!

So did you ever find this wonderful crochet pattern you just had to make? You get so excited and grab the pattern head out to the stores to get the perfect yarn only to find you don't have a decent store that sells yarn near you??
I have this happen all the time. Here in Southeast Texas it seems that all the stores sell the same bulky yarns in EVERY store. Why is it that Houston area stores get the same yarns as the northern states??
We need lighter yarns down here cottons, DK weights, fingering weights and the like. We don't need bulky and super bulky yarns!!
So I in my wisdom contacted Jo-Ann customer service and let them know I was very irritated with them. I let them know that I do not buy yarns I cannot touch and see so ordering online from their stores isn't a choice for me. I also said that know the selections they sell in their stores, makes it very hard to ever want to brave Houston Traffic to get to the closest store.  I got a response 4 days later.
This is the response.

I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. Please be assured that the information you provided will be shared with appropriate personnel for review and consideration. We value your patronage and hope you will let us be of service to you in the future.

Well isn't that lovely!! I wanted to send a message back saying well have them call me and I will help them choose the yarns they need to sell!!!!
Bamboo Cotton Blends, Silk Blends, Caron Simply Light, Caron Simply Baby, I can go on but you are understanding where I am at.
So I have the distinct displeasure of ordering online, and praying that the colors I choose are the color I get. I pray it is soft enough for a baby's bottom because otherwise I break out in a heat rash!!!!!
Take care and I pray you have better luck than I do when shopping for yarn!