It actually comes down to which side of the brain you tend to access when you pick up your knitting.
The Left Brain Knitter
Knitter seem to be the more common. Usually very pattern driven left brain knitters love the the mental challenge of deciphering a pattern following the steps and achieving perfect results. The more challenging the pattern the better. Left brain knitters love to geek out on the fine details traditions, techniques and pattern deciphering. Creative expression for Left Brain knitters often involves complex pattern writing, or finding new solutions for existing patterns. I am forever in awe of those who are able to write complex patterns. Left Brain knitters seek out more monochromatic yarns to show off their mad skillz best. I am alway amazed when I see one of my lace yarns transformed into detailed intricate work.
The Right Brain Knitter
Right brain knitters tend to struggle with patterns a little bit. And I often hear them saying they’re not very good at knitting. Right brain knitters will often be perfectly content knitting a pile of scarves not because they are bad knitters but there’s just not a lot of resources or information on knitting for them that meets them in the middle about how they think and how they like to knit. Right brain knitters tend to knit with inspirations of the moment focusing on color and texture. Creative expression for right brain knitters follow a more sensory experience, the focus is on the details of the visuals rather than technique. For right brain knitters the technical aspects are just not terribly fun. But give them a good colorful yarn (or 2, or 7…) and they will tell you how awesome it was to knit using lots of adjectives.
Hand made yarns and the right brain knitter.
I don’t get me wrong I love diving into a complex cable or color work or lacework pattern. I love the challenge and I feel such a sense of accomplishment after tackling such a large project. But being a yarn dyer and hand spinner, my crazy colorful yarns are really geared towards a right brained knitter. Handmade yarns have a focus on color and texture which just rubs against anything involving intricate stitch work. So I know there’s not a lot of information out there to help right brain knitter’s find their place. Here’s for tips I like to keep in mind when working on a right brain created project.
Don’t limit yourself to a handful yards. Pull out more yarns than you think he will use. Think about how a painter might prepare for painting. They do not pull out just five colors to use they have a wide selection (if not ALL) of paints within view. Do the same thing with yarn. Think of it as painting with yarn. Set up your workspace where you can see a very wide variety of your yarn as you work.
Dive into the inspirations of the moment as opposed to worrying about the garment as a whole. I can’t explain why this works, but I find more success when I focus on coordinating color and texture within smaller segments of the fabric as opposed to worrying about the color and texture of the garment as a whole. This method seems to create a progression the carries your eye across the piece as if to tell a story.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. In fact sit with some mistakes. This one sweater doesn’t have to be perfect. Creating fiber art is a process. Don’t be afraid to create a sweater that you’re “meh” about. Just know that you’ll do it differently next time.
Consistently do the work. You might not be crazy about the direction your piece is going in you might end up having to rip row after row back. Don’t be discouraged. I just keep doing the work. Right brain knitters forge a new path with every piece if they work don’t get discouraged. See every “mistake” as bringing you one step closer to mastering the art of right brain knitting.
Sign Up for the UrbanGypZ Fiber Arts Collective
Want to learn some new tricks for your weaving?
Check out my online art weaving classes!
Fiber artist Stacey Budge-Kamison AKA UrbanGypZ lives and works in Cary NC. She can also be found knitting in public, hammering out her latest e-course at local cafés and spinning yarns in her booth at her favorite arts festivals. A designer at heart, Stacey has decided that her mission is to help fellow knitters, crocheters, weavers and felters embrace their own style and creativity by exploring fiber art as it is a part of their everyday life and helping them embrace the title of artist no matter where they are in their journey. 
I am right down the middle. Do you think it’s from being left handed in a right handed world? I love complex lace or cable patterns, but Fair Isle or color work, not at all. I will walk into my LYS with a project in mind but most likely will use that yarn for an entirely different project. Or, I will go in for a particular project, and will fall in love with the texture or color of a yarn, and ask, so, what can I make with this? I mostly love semi-solid to solid yarn that shows off the beauty of the wood/silk/alpaca, etc, and the mastery of a stitch whether it is a sweater or a scarf.
That is such an awesome space to be in. A Renaissance knitter!
I swear you just described me Kate! 🙂 I feel I’m right down the middle too. I’m also left handed and love lace & cable patterns much more than any colour work. However, I love yarns that have more colour changes in them. Whether it’s the same colour with different hues or a variegated the multiple colours. I have worked mostly with solids and acrylics since I started knitting some 8 years ago. However, as of late I’m wanting to work with natural fibres as I loved the bamboo and llama yarns I have had the opportunity to play with. The patterns I’m mostly attracted to are shawls as I like how simple or intricate they can be.
I loved this article and look forward to browsing this site more.
Yes! You expressed it exactly! I love the challenge of a intricate pattern — when it involves the novelty of requiring me to master a new skill.
But –
I have used the painting metaphor before, too. I love to savor the texture and colors of the yarns as I am working and a lot of my joy comes from imagining what I can do with a spectacular yarn.
I knit much the way I cook. Some people are afraid to deviate from the recipe even a tiny bit. They won’t attend a project without the exact same brand of yarn used in the pattern. Maybe because when I learned to knit my yarn choices were limited to the acrylics in the back of Zayres, but I have almost NEVER used the suggested yarn for a pattern. With online shops at least now I can study it– for weight and fiber content, etc. But then I find something else that will work with the pattern.
Another characteristic you might look at is how many projects you have going at any one time. I have more than half a dozen. Some are more broadly “mindless knitting” that don’t require a lot of c
I definitely am a left-brain knitter. I can follow very complicated patterns and usually can figure out what needs to be done by looking at the picture – but tell me to make something up out of my head and I’m frozen.
yes! Finally I understand it. I’m a right-brain knitter! I always feel misunderstood in my knitting group, because they are always making these amazing things, more difficult everytime. And there I am with jet another scarf or pair of socks. I am perfectly happy with my own knitting. I always chose on color and the feel of a yarn. Now I know why.
Yes! Welcome to the right brain club. We are out here, just supremely underrepresented in a community of pattern seekers.
That takes a serious engineer like brain. I too am in awe of those complex pattern writers. Just amazing.
I am a free form, right brain knitter and never know what I will end up with. It’s such a comfort to hear there are others out there too!
Yes, just so very underrepresented in places like Ravelry where the community is very pattern resource based.
OMG, I am a right brain knitter! Hats & Scaves, over and over. If fact, the most complicated (which really wasn’t) was a shawl I knitted with Sari Silk yarn I purchased from you at SAFF. I love yarn with texture and hand spun yarn. It’s yummy! ❤️
I guess I am a right-brained knitter. I love the challenge of a difficult pattern, but I rip out my mistakes constantly. I cannot bear to have even one stitch out of place, and I cannot learn to rip out or reknit, so I start all over, often a trillion times until I have it right. (I know I sound craxy, but I do love to knit!)
I have a friend here in Asheville who loves her mistakes for the same reason… she gets to knit more. It is all good because she loves knitting so much.
Would love to be a right brained knitter, but have trouble trusting my instincts about putting things together.
Oh Denise, I know what you mean. I second guess myself all the time. Here is what I know, you will always feel you can do better and you will with each new project. Don’t feel your supplies (yarn, paint, fiber) will be wasted on bad decisions. You will have a fondness for your early work no matter what it looks like.
I’m totally a left brain knitter. Give me any pattern, no problem. Just can’t seem to get hang of reading charts though.
I love to knit and try new challanges. ,Im not afriad to try a new complicated st. Dont always get it but I do keep trying. I just now mastered the cable knit after about five years of mess ups lol but Im determined. I do mostly crochet becuase there are more options of design I have a bit of trouble with circular ndls but still pushing through to learn. So guessing Im a right brainer.
I seriously left-brained in all aspects of my life. That is probably not a good thing, but it is who I am. I LOVE intricate cables and lace, but not any kind of colorwork. I do tend to choose solid colors to show off a pattern. Even choosing my clothing, I choose solid colors. I am not good at writing patterns, but I make copious notes so I can duplicate my pattern changes. I loved reading about your observations of Knitters.
As in life, I am fully ambidextrous. I can follow most very challenging patterns, but still have plenty to learn; at the same time, I knit many, many basic pair of socks (mostly because they’re the perfect gift). I love to challenge myself with fancy lace & texture, showing off the solid color of the yarn, and other times, want something so basic in order to share the dye artist’s work. I’m certainly never bored!
Right-brain crocheter — the description above fits me perfectly. I walk into my LYS and am drawn to the colors first. Then I have to pick up and feel the yarn for softness. Can’t stand the squeakiness of acrylics. I’ll buy yarn based on color and feel with no project in mind — so often the yarn becomes a cowl, shawl, or scarf. Occasionally, I’m smart enough to buy enough yardage for a vest or a lapghan. The greatest pleasures of working with yarn is the deeply relaxing feeling I get while I crocheting at night after a long day at work. If the project comes out perfectly — that’s icing on the cake.
I’m 100% right brain! Never picked up a pattern in my life. (Consequently I only knit scarves or cowls or beanies, but they’re BURSTING with lots of colors and mega-texture.) Same with my spinning. My biggest challenge is figuring out what else to do with these crazy yarns I’m spinning…
Oh Cheryl! I totally get the problem of not knowing what to do with crazy art yarns. Keep an eye out… I have an e-course being revamped that talks about designing with hand made yarns (hand spun and hand dyed, especially the wild art yarn stuff that many of us right brain knitting love love love to make.
This is my favorite post. I feel good about being a right brain knitter after seeing it and not like a knitting failure. And really, this applies to so much in life. Thanks Stacey. 🙂
Aw. Thanks Jill. I am so glad it resonated with you. xo
Right brain knitter completely! I feel so much better about the way I create after reading this.