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.]

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Just about anything you can make in fabric you can make in knitting, but there are some styles that you just don’t see that often translated into knitting.

For example, a button down collared shirt. This is a classic design, of course, and it looks great in a knit version, but it’s just not something you see much of.

Noma Ndlovu’s Guglethu shirt is the pattern to try if you want to knit your own button down shirt. This one is inspired by cashmere tops (though the sample was made out of yak yarn, not cashmere, and uses two strands of lace weight yarn held together) and includes lots of high-fashion details like double-knit cuffs, collar and shoulder seams.

It has a patch pocket on the front and 10 buttons including the button band and the cuffs.

The designer says you can also use a DK weight yarn held singly if you’d rather, and that the shirt looks good in a variety of yarns. There is another version on Ravelry that uses Berroco Remix Light, which is a mix of nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk and cellulose fibers. It has a more relaxed look but it still really pretty.

The pattern has 12 sizes, with a full bust measurement ranging from 32.35 to 72.25 inches, or 82 to 183.5 cm. The designer suggests 2 to 6 inches, or 5 to 15 cm, of positive ease when you pick your size. I could totally see knitting one that’s even bigger to wear more like a jacket, because I do that a lot with button down shirts I already own.

I love all the details on this shirt, which isn’t necessarily difficult to knit, but might introduce you to some things you’ve never knit before (like those cuffs with the plackets, or a shirt collar like this).

To learn more about this shirt and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself, head to Ravelry.

[Photo: Noma Ndlovu]

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