Hazel Tindall ( The Fastest Speed Knitter)

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Description I have no memory of learning to knit, some time before I started school.  From the time I started looking round I was surrounded by knitters - three generations shared our family home.   I knitted my first cardigan for myself when I was 7 or 8 and before I was twelve I had knit myself a Fair Isle lumbercoat (my Mum kept this and I have it now – well worn and slightly felted).  I love knitting Fair Isle but have also knit a few Aran sweaters.  As a young teenager I was told lace knitting was too difficult so didn’t knit lace till in my twenties. As a schoolgirl, and college student, knitting was my main source of income. Jumper and lumber-coat bodies were machine knit by other people.  My job was to knit a Fair Isle yoke, graft on machine-knit cuffs and neck and hand knit front button/buttonhole bands (for lumber-coats).  Sometimes we were given patterns and colours to use but I liked it best when I could use any colour and any pattern.  For variety I started to graph my own patterns, many of which I continue to use today. Knitting has always been my favourite hobby.  When my sons were very young I sewed and knitted almost all their clothes.  I taught myself to crochet, having inherited a large collection of crochet patterns.  I was brought up never to be “hand idle” so my hands are usually busy with something. Since attending evening classes in spinning, I have been a member of Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers, Dyers and Knitters for a number of years.  It’s a wonderful meeting place and there’s always something new to learn, and it’s satisfying to share techniques and knowledge with others.   In 2004 one of the Guild members said she’s noticed, on UK Handknitting Association’s website, that the fastest knitter speed was just 180 stitches in 3 minutes.  We discussed this and decided that seemed quite slow so we used our annual fund raising event to stage a competition.  Lots of ladies knit faster than 180 stitches in 3 minutes, and I won the competition. We had already planned a trip to England in October 2004 so decided to detour to London so that I could take part in the fastest knitter competition there.  When I got there I discovered that to qualify for the final I need to knit 240 stitches in 3 minutes – that made me quite nervous - but I did succeed.  Against 3 other competitors, I won with 255 stitches in 3 minutes.  I won a cheque for £1000 and a beautiful silver rose bowl engraved with my name and the date.  In those days it was stocking stitch – one row knit, one row purl – but in 2006 there was another competition where it was decided they’d not knit any purl (it’s usually slower).  I wasn’t there to compete – travel is very expensive from Shetland to London, and no-one was offering to pay my fare! No British competitor has equalled, or come too near, my speed so I was sponsored by UK Hand Knitting Association to represent Britain in Minneapolis in February 2008’s world championship.  The prize was a clock engraved with “Fastest Knitter 2008” and the sponsors’ names.  The other competitors there were from USA, Canada, France and Netherlands.  For this competition we did three 3-minute sessions of knitting – I knit 241, 247 and 262 stitches.  The best score for the runner-up, Miriam Tegels from the Netherlands, was 243.  Miriam is in the Guinness Book of Records so she’s the one everyone names as the Fastest Knitter! Knitting continues to be a time-consuming hobby.  I design and knit, mostly garments, for myself and my family – photos of some of my designs are attached.