In article ,
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:
Why is it important to know how quickly somebody knits ?

For all reasonable purposes, it makes no difference how fast
anyone knits.

The point of contests is partly a desire for accuracy in reporting,
and partly to test a historical claim.

Almost every knitting book (even those from different countries)
repeats the old claim that the gansey knitters could reach speeds
of 200 stitches per minute.

Up to now, when timed with accurate stopwatches in official competitions,
the fastest modern knitters don't even reach 100 stitches per minute.
(This reminds me strongly of the fact that modern horses, timed by
accurate stopwatches over measured miles, somehow never match the
speeds reported for certain horses in the 19th century.)

It seems to me that the "200 stitches per minute" claim is usually
repeated to sneer at modern knitters as weaklings or incompetent, and
to raise the knitters of the past to a pedestal. Yet I doubt that the
human beings 100 years ago were that much faster than, for instance,
Hazel Tindall, who has knitted all her life using the same techniques
they used (she uses a Shetland knitting belt).

Aaron's reported speed beats the officially recorded competition,
though as far as I know he isn't purling, just knitting, which could
make a significant difference. His spring steel needles may be
greatly responsible for the speed reported, too. The finer antique
needles available to most were at best ordinary steel, sometimes iron
or brass.

There will be another international competition in the next year or
two. I would like to see Aaron compete if he can get to New York City.
It would be really neat for him to demonstrate the refinements of
sheath-knitting that he has discovered.
Failing that, there's always the Guinness Book of World Records,
which also requires certain kinds of documentation.

Of course, there is the element that the standard competition
materials are not at gansey gauge. Also, because of varying local
standards, the speed of a national champion of France can't be
easily compared to that of a national champion of Germany, for instance.

In the international competition, all will be using the same standard
format and materials. I believe it is:
knit for three minutes, 60 stitches wide, stockinette,
using DK wool (light worsted weight in the USA), on 4mm (US size 6,
UK size 8) straight needles (dpns are allowed).
I'm pretty sure the cast-on can be done in advance, but I would think
that the starting stitch has to be marked.

In one contest (France, I think), knitters all used the same needles,
one after another, but each one used a different color of yarn, so
the exact stitches could be counted and nobody had to cast on.
But in the international one, knitters provide their own needles.
I don't know about the yarn; I think it would be provided, to be sure
everyone was working with the same qualities.

=Tamar