Knitting: another guy who knits -- faster than I do anyway

I was goofing around looking for things to watch while I finished a sock and came across this video, 10 ways to speed up your knitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezoSvVsq9dw

Do they work?

1. Flicking. Haven't tried this but Continental hold does work a little faster than English. Notice he does not use the Norwegian hold that Arne and Carlos teach, his left index finger is too far off the needle.

2. Metal needles. I've always used them. They are not recommended for silk because it's so slippery anyway.

3. Bunch the stitches toward your working needle. Well, yeah, it's faster if you don't have to pull the new stitch from the middle of the needle and bunching the stitches lets you keep more even tension on your working yarn.

4. Use the fingers on your non-working needle to push stitches toward the working needle. Actually, I use those fingers to stabilize the stitch I'm working on, especially with the pencil hold, which is a fast way of knitting anyway.

5. Tension. There's two problems with tension, one which the video discusses, having stitches too tight to get your working needle into. The other is it wears out your fingers faster. Don't take three loops of yarn on your index finger; you'll cut off your circulation. Take a loose loop around your little finger. The friction will be enough to keep the tension even.

6. Knit close to the tip. This goes with (3) above, if you're bunching your stitches they will be close to your working needle.

7. Tension. I just talked about this in (5).

8. Don't freeze the hand on the non-working needle. If you're doing all of the above, this is impossible.

9. Slow motion is something you will naturally do when you knit for the first time ever or when you use a new style or pattern. 

10. Posture. I read once that a lady in the Fair Isles knitted a special order sweater in 48 hours. So you know she was ignoring recommendations to take breaks. But she also had a gimmick: a knitting belt. The belt holds one needle steady and the working needle sort of dances around it. Invented so that the knitter can work with one hand and stir the dinner stew with the other, these belts are available online.

https://ysolda.com/blogs/journal/knitting-belts?srsltid=AfmBOopbexT823e8RrKGiz6-FOMYxImZgOk8DaM2Ukw59xAyJJCUwjBE

My knitting speed recommendations are:

1. Knit in the round, using steeking if possible. What makes it faster is you don't have to sew seams at the end. It also lets you maintain an even tension because you're almost always knitting, not switching back and forth between knitting and purling.

2. Norwegian version of the Continental Hold. The Continental Hold works for both knitting and purling and the Norwegian hold with the index finger always on the needle lets you do things like pushing the stitches toward the point so you can flick them. I don't know why, but I find YOs in lace and brioche easier to do with the Continental Hold.

3. Irish cottage or pencil hold for English knitting. Besides being faster than the knife hold, it goes even faster if you DON'T look at your work. This is great for mono-color knitting because you can watch videos to keep from getting bored by the sameness of the color, and at the same time get through the knitting quicker.