How fast is fast?

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise



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Continental is, IMO, faster than English. None of this dropping the
right needle and "throwing" the yarn business. Just shove your right
stick through the stitch, grab the yarn, yank it back as you pull the
stitch off the left stick, and repeat ad naus.

I knit Continental (German). If I'm doing straight stockinette I can
plough through 90-100 stitches per minute IF I'm knitting loosely
enough that I can feed new stitches up from the left without fussing
with them.

My speed drops considerably when I have to switch to English - fat
needles and fussy yarn just kill me.

BUT you should toss that book, if it expects you to conform to some
arbitrary timeline/progress schedule. You'll knit as fast as you
knit, and only practice will improve your speed. Also, consider that
you may sacrifice quantity for quality if you force yourself to pick
up the pace before you're proficient enough to do it naturally.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 20:46:55 -0600, Denise
wrote:

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise



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Goodness, I never worry about how fast I am, I touch type as well, and no
longer know what my speed on that is. I know my shorthand is ordinary
speech speed. lol.

I guess it all depends on patterning and how well you know the pattern you
are working on, and how many stitches there are on a row etc. I just knit
and carry on, at the moment I am lace patterning increasing one stitch at
each end of every other row, so I'm gaining two stitches every other row, I
started with three stitches and am now up to 213 and started the piece New
Years Eve afternoon. So I don't know how fast or slow that is, I must do
a swatch and see how long it takes..

Cheers.....Cher



Denise wrote in message
...
I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise



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Denise !!!! as a veteran knitter may i give you a friendly advice ?
knitting is not measured by TIME , it is measured by resuls , by the
enjoyment you have making it and the hapiness it gives the wearer or
user . If time was the measure i would have never knitted the MANY
things i did , as my Rheumatic illnes makes me a slow knitter , but
who cares , i am not in any Marathon . Now sit back and enjoy this
wonderful activity for what it is a creative , easily portable
loveable technique that turns a thread into a joy . Believe me if you
start measuring rows you might loose , with time you will do it
quicker or slower , but you will make it .I understood you compare it
to your typing ability , But don`t compare it .
mirjam
On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 20:46:55 -0600, Denise
wrote:

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise



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Slinky i am quicker in my English method than my Continental , and i
was taught that it was called French knitting [ hahhah]
mirjam knitting the throw method what ever it`s called.
On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 02:51:46 GMT, Slinky
wrote:

Continental is, IMO, faster than English. None of this dropping the
right needle and "throwing" the yarn business. Just shove your right
stick through the stitch, grab the yarn, yank it back as you pull the
stitch off the left stick, and repeat ad naus.

I knit Continental (German). If I'm doing straight stockinette I can
plough through 90-100 stitches per minute IF I'm knitting loosely
enough that I can feed new stitches up from the left without fussing
with them.

My speed drops considerably when I have to switch to English - fat
needles and fussy yarn just kill me.

BUT you should toss that book, if it expects you to conform to some
arbitrary timeline/progress schedule. You'll knit as fast as you
knit, and only practice will improve your speed. Also, consider that
you may sacrifice quantity for quality if you force yourself to pick
up the pace before you're proficient enough to do it naturally.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 20:46:55 -0600, Denise
wrote:

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise



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| On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 20:46:55 -0600, Denise wrote:

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

1. I agree with Slinky. Ditch any book that imposes arbitrary goals like
that, or at least take it with a super-large grain of salt. Hand knitting
is a tactile pleasure, a process-oriented activity. Knit at whatever pace
you enjoy most if you want to enjoy hand knitting for a lifetime. When I'm
driven to achieve a product in a hurry, I head for my knitting machine. Of
course there was a whole other learning curve with that.

2. Ribbing will always be slower than plain knitting, no matter how fast
you get at it. You're changing your motion every 2 stitches and having to
remember to make that change. Even if you get into a steady rhythm, that's
going to be slower than doing the same motion over and over. Plus you're
having to change your yarn over from one side of the work to the other
in-between each pair. Even in Continental that's an extra finger flick.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

I find Continental faster and more comfortable, especially for ribbing, but
it's a very individual thing. English is generally fastest when it
involves propping one of the needles, either under the arm or in a knitting
sheath. The knitters who hold international speed records generally knit
that way.



Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org

Denise opined thusly:

I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.

If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.

Denise


Don't bother with some author's idea of the correct speed to knit. It cannot
be quantified. Go at your own pace, be comfortable with the process and happy
with your end product.

I knit much faster using the continental method. The "let go, grab, throw,
get the needle again" thing is not a good match for me. That being said, I've
seen people knit in the english way who were light years faster than I could
ever be. And I suspect most folks knitting continental are also faster than
me. The main reason I don't take knitting to a stitch and bitch is because
I'm cursed to be extremely competitive, and yet extremely slow!

Regards,
--Anne

Hi Denise,

Yes, Mirjam has it right. You are knitting for your pleasure, not in a race.
When I knit or crochet I don't care how long it takes me to do a row or a
round. The end results is that I accomplished what I had started out to make.

Hugs,

Nora

Now everyone seems concerned that I'm taking this too seriously... LOL

Actually, my problem is that I'm in a hurry to see the end product and
it just seems to take f o r e v e r. I'd be interested in a knitting
machine if I thought it was affordable.

What's a knitting sheath?

Denise

Helen "Halla" Fleischer wrote:
| On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 20:46:55 -0600, Denise wrote:


I was just wondering how fast is fast? The teach-yourself books I'm
reading say I should be doing several rows in 10 minutes by now for my
dog sweater project -- no way! It's probably taking me 8 minutes to do
one row of k2 p2 of 64 stitches. That sounds pathetically slow to me,
particularly when I'm used to being fast with my fingers in typing 80 wpm.


1. I agree with Slinky. Ditch any book that imposes arbitrary goals like
that, or at least take it with a super-large grain of salt. Hand knitting
is a tactile pleasure, a process-oriented activity. Knit at whatever pace
you enjoy most if you want to enjoy hand knitting for a lifetime. When I'm
driven to achieve a product in a hurry, I head for my knitting machine. Of
course there was a whole other learning curve with that.

2. Ribbing will always be slower than plain knitting, no matter how fast
you get at it. You're changing your motion every 2 stitches and having to
remember to make that change. Even if you get into a steady rhythm, that's
going to be slower than doing the same motion over and over. Plus you're
having to change your yarn over from one side of the work to the other
in-between each pair. Even in Continental that's an extra finger flick.


If the continental stitch truly is faster, I'll give it a serious shot,
but right now I'm pretty comfortable with the English method.


I find Continental faster and more comfortable, especially for ribbing, but
it's a very individual thing. English is generally fastest when it
involves propping one of the needles, either under the arm or in a knitting
sheath. The knitters who hold international speed records generally knit
that way.



Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org



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| On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 15:08:57 -0600, Denise wrote:

Now everyone seems concerned that I'm taking this too seriously... LOL

I guess too many of us have met people who gave up because they didn't
enjoy doing it the way some book said they SHOULD do it and hadn't been
encouraged to continue with what felt good and natural to them.

Actually, my problem is that I'm in a hurry to see the end product and
it just seems to take f o r e v e r. I'd be interested in a knitting
machine if I thought it was affordable.

Sometimes used machines are very affordable, but it can take experience to
spot which are fully functional.

What's a knitting sheath?

It's wooden thing that fits comfortably under the arm, with a hole in the
end to hold the non-working end of the needle you'd normally have to drop
to wrap the yarn. In the old days it was mostly used with longer
double-pointed needles, but I believe it's possible to create one that
would work with straight needles equipped with stops. There's also a
version that fits on a belt, but I think that may go by another term.
Either way the idea is to have that needle fixed in such a way that you
don't have to hold it in your hand at all, leaving that hand free to wrap
faster.

Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org