North America’s Fastest Knitter Has a New Goal

I love this story from the Toronto Sun about the fastest knitter in North America, Lina Benne. The 49-year-old yarn shop owner from Mississauga entered a speed knitting contest on a whim back in 2004 and managed to knit 253 stitches in 3 minutes, deftly beating the American record of 213.

She learned to knit when she was 4 and uses the pivot style of knitting — where one needle is held under the arm, a hallmark of fast knitters the world over. She says she picked up speed through years of muscle memory, and having lots of time on her hands in the early years when her shop wasn’t that busy.

She doesn’t compete for speed much these days — though she says in the video accompanying the story that she’d love someone to come along and blow away her record so she could retire — she does have another goal in sight: starting a Canadian sheep to shawl team to turn fleece into a sweater in record time.

[Photo by Richard Lautens via the Toronto Sun.]

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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