The day I met Laura Chau she was wearing her then latest design, the Fred+Ginger Cardigan all knit up in some of my yarns. She said there was plenty leftover and she had it in her head to design some flip-top mittens… and here they are. I get a tingly, shock and awe kind of feeling when I think of how prolifically Laura designs. So if you need mittens (like I need mittens on this unusually cold Vancouver evening), you can find them here on Ravelry or here on her site. Stay warm!
It’s been nearly a month since my classes at Vogue Knitting Live and I’ve been trying to incorporate what I learned during those classes into my knitting. This, especially. At the very last minute, I was transferred into the YarnHarlot’s “Knitting for Speed & Efficiency” class and was absolutely ecstatic about it. A while ago, I saw a video of Stephanie and her “Irish Cottage Knitting” and knew… I had to learn that.
Here’s the first video of her knitting on a sock, followed by a second video of her knitting with the straight needle held under her armpit.
The concepts are really very straightforward. There are basically two kinds of knitters — those that knit for a living and those that don’t. We should look those those who do production knitting for tips on speed and efficiency. Generally “picking” is the most efficient way to generate a knit stitch… and so we see pickers (such as EZ and Meg Swansen) generally knitting a lot of garments in the round or garter-based lace. “Throwers” generally knit more stockinette-based lace and garments are typically worked in pieces.
A third style of knitting, “Lever Knitting”, is used by people who knit for a living. It’s the most ergonomic way to knit and allows people to knit for 8 to 10 hours a day without any repetitive strain. Lever knitting makes knitting or purling equally easy to do and the stitches are precise and even. So, lever knitters knit everything.
The most compelling part of the 6-hour lecture was hearing about the history of this style of knitting. Stephanie studied art history and brought images to demonstrate how following the industrial revolution, knitting became one of the “domestic arts”. Women were encouraged to hold their knitting needles in a “proper” and “pretty” way to show that they were upper class — that is, to keep the palms of the hands down. This is a posture which ultimately slowed down our ability to knit fast. So, we have to go back and re-learn an old pre-industrial revolution style of knitting in order to regain speed and efficiency.
My armpit. The most useful knitting tool around. Who knew?
No matter how we knit, we all had to go back to the basics… everyone had to learn how to pick, how to throw, and how to do the “yarn held over the neck Portugese style”. Then the 3-hour afternoon session was spent entirely on lever knitting. I learned to “throw” as a kid, but I’ve been knitting this way (“lever knitting” a la HeartStrings) for a few years now. Stephanie’s method of lever knitting has a different method of yarn tensioning than on the HeartStrings site. Stephanie’s criteria for lever knitting is: one needle held stationary (either under the armpit, held in a “makkin” or knitting belt, or held like a pencil) and the yarn tensioned on the lower fingers of the right hand. Tensioning the yarn lower down on the “stupid” fingers allows the index finger and thumb (the “smart” fingers) to do much more of the sensitive manipulation of the stitches. The middle and ring fingers that are holding the yarn act more like a sewing machine shuttle, arcing back and forth to catch the tip of the needle.
This is all much easier than it sounds. So Stephanie’s suggestion was to practice daily for at least 21 to 30 days in order to develop the micro muscle movement memory that is needed. So far, I’ve been knitting relatively big things on 7 and 8 mm straights, so this method has been great and I’ve been improving there. But going back and trying to knit lace like this has been very challenging. I’m sure it’s just a time and practice factor… I hope.
If you are interested in learning to knit faster (wanna get through that stash?! I do…), I would encourage you to seek out Stephanie’s class and see first-hand how her teaching can improve your knitting speed. She also gives plenty of tips and techniques for speeding up your knitting, should you choose to stick with your picking or throwing. Also, check out the Bellwether’s post about the fastest knitters in the world and see how they knit — you’ll notice how one needle is always held stationery and the hands are making tiny movements. The hand that is tensioning the yarn does not actually drop the needle and so there is no time lost to dropping and picking up the needle again. If you feel like you need a support group, there’s even a Ravelry group for production knitters. Have any of you tried this and successfully switched to lever knitting?
And as for speed, we did a little speed check at the beginning and end of class and I’m guessing the average around the class was between 20 to 30 sts per minute. Stephanie said that lever knitters start at 60 to 80 sts per minute. You can read Eunny Jang’s old post about how she knits 75 to 80 sts per minute (but how productivity is actually achieved by always knitting as opposed to fast knitting). And the latest World’s fastest knitter appears to be Hazel Tindall… and you’ve got to see this little video.
There will be random door prizes and some big prizes for contest winners. Anne at Crafty Diversions also put together this great idea for a huge door prize that also includes some of our SweetGeorgia yarn:
Looks like it’s going to be an amazing show and be sure to stop by the Unwind booth (1245-1247) to see our yarns up close and personal! Wish I could be in sunny California now too!
This past fall, I was all sad about not being able to take my Matchless to SOAR with me. Meanwhile, Schacht was already hard at work on designing a new travel wheel. Schacht has just released the price and it’s going to be $785 USD for the Schacht Sidekick and only $665 for the option without the flyer and bobbins (uses the same flyer and bobbins as the Matchless and Ladybug). There’s also an option to purchase the Bulky Flyer package for the Sidekick.
Schacht is taking orders now and planning on shipping the first wheels around May.
Happy Monday everyone and thanks for all the great comments on the new issue of Knitcircus! Lots of love for that gorgeous Alcea shawlette… I’m going to be adding that to my queue too. Here are the winners of the Knitcircus giveaway:
Year Subscription: Minmenk
Pattern Collection: Dee
Pattern Collection: CrazyVet
We’ll get your pattern PDFs sent out to you as soon as we can!
Driven by an obsessive, passionate and often tumultuous relationship with colour, Felicia Lo is the owner of SweetGeorgia Yarns, an artisan yarn company that makes exquisite and luxurious hand-dyed yarns for knitting and fibres for spinning. She writes about all things knitting, spinning, dyeing, and weaving here at sweetgeorgia.
the studio
SweetGeorgia Yarns ::: Studio
110-408 East Kent Avenue South,
Vancouver, BC V5X 2X7 between Main and Fraser
We've recently moved and expanded our production dye studio where we dye all our yarns and fibres. It's a treat to see. Knitters and spinners are welcome to get a glimpse into the world of hand-dyed yarn and experience a slice of the sweet life.
We're open to the public by appointment. Just give us a call!
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@manicpurl yes yes! We will be here tomorrow. Mid morning sounds great! The rate is still $8 per week :) #2012/05/15
