Sheep Shots

There's been some discussion on one of my e-lists about LC's fall from the top as fastest crocheter in the world to this woman , which led to discussion about just how fast people knit.

UK Kandkitting has the low-down on speedy hand knitting and crocheting. Interesting reading!

This, of course, prompted me to time myself. Though I have been a "thrower" for the past 50 years (all attemps to do continental "picking" have ended in frustration), I still clock in at a respectable 35 stitches/minuute with worsted weight and size 7's. I am faster with wool and slower with acrylic (drag factor?). Once, back when I briefly knit for hire, I clocked myself at 40 yards (or yarn) per hour on plain stockinette.

Which leads to a discussion of "why knit fast?" When I need to finish a project in a hurry, I haul out the (recently packed away) Bond. You cannot beat a machine for producing yards and yards of plain ol' knit fabric. Even the hand manipulation required to Actually-Make-Something on the Bond is not as time consuming as knitting by hand. And there is a certain pleasure in turning out small, reasonably pretty garments:




fairly quickly. Indeed, on both of these, the hand finishing (seaming) took as long as the knitting (or very near).

Ship Support is one of those places that I send my hand- and machine knits (mostly the stockinette portion of the dorm boots--the cuffs and soles I do by hand). With the need growing exponentially, the machine comes in handy. (Note to self: time to haul it back out. Second note to self: finish the fair entries, then haul it out!)

I think that nearly everything I have ever made on the Bond was Big Box Store acrylic with the exception of some very plain alpaca blend scarves I made last Christmas (miles and miles of stockinette).

But for pure pleasure, nothing beats knitting by hand with precious fibers: really good wool (or even inexpensive wool in really good colors), Lopi (Icelandic wool), alpaca, silk. And watching a pattern develop (like the stocking I just finished) just isn't the same on the machine. And slow and steady wins the race.

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Welcome new reader! I discovered not too long ago that I have (at least ) one non-knitting reader! (We've known each other since high school, lost touch. "Found" each other again as he's planning our [mumble, mumble] class reunion. ) Hi, WS!


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