Knitting For Speed or Knitting For Pleasure? Both!

What did I find for you today? A free shipping coupon from Annie’s Attic! I personally like free shipping sales, almost better than percentages off.

Just recently became interested in speed knitting. Why? Can’t say, other than that if there’s a technique out there that people are doing and I don’t know about it, well, let’s just say that being raised with four brothers may have brought out a bit of a competitive side. Just a bit. So I hear that speed knitting is all the rage and I have to check it out.

The very first place to check such a thing out is, of course, YouTube. And then Knitpicks runs a close second. So toddling off to YouTube, I found a plethora of speed knitting demos, mostly they are doing a continental style of stitching on steel needles, but not all of them. Annie Modesitt does a speed knitting and purling thing that I just cannot comprehend.
Anyway, go to YouTube and search for “speed knitting”. And then go to KnitPicks and search for the same thing. I tried some of the techniques and did indeed speed up my knitting a bit, but it’s still in the concentration phase.
While you’re on YouTube, check out the backwards knitting video. Sooooo simple!

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

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