Who? you might be thinking. Is this someone I should really know much about? Perhaps not since Gwen Matthewman's claim to fame had to do with speed knitting. She held the Guinness World Record for knitting speed at 111 stitches per minute from 1980-2005. In 2005 her record was broken by Miriam Tegels from The Netherlands who knit at a rate 118 stitches per minute or 6% faster. To help put this into perspective, I can knit at a rate of 30 stitches per minute, which means it would take me four times longer to finish a row or item, than it would take either Gwen or Miriam.
Why am I mentioning all this now? Gwen Matthewman died last week at the age of 86, near Featherstone, West Yorkshire, UK. It is reported she had given up knitting approximately 10 years ago due to health reasons. (Mom you're doing well to be knitting at your age!) BTW Gwen also held a Guinness World Record for the most prolific knitting prior to the speed record (although they seem quite related to me). Check out the newspaper article about her knitting a sweater for the Apollo astronauts in 1969 here.
During the 25 years when she held the speed knitting record, Gwen made several appearances on the BBC demonstrating her skills. Have a look at a tribute clip put together about Mrs. Mathhewman, here. Note the Irish Cottage style of knitting she's using which has one of the needles tucked under her arm as she knits. A better view of Gwen's technique can be seen here demonstrated by the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It only takes a few seconds for you to note how different the motion of the hands and fingers is compared to the Continental knitting style demonstrated here.
It has been reported that Gwen could knit while watching TV (that's no big deal since most of us do that), but she could even read a book while knitting (which is a big deal; certainly if you could do this, reading a knitting chart would be a cinch because you could keep your eyes on the chart at all times). Gwen apparently always finished one project before starting another (some of us have problems with many WIPs, I'm not saying who might have that problem, but you can guess). She was reportedly able to knit a man's sweater in 3 hours and completely make a child's sweater in less time than it took to wash and dry one. (Ah, that's fast!)
A down side if you watched the tribute video through to the end is that there were knitting needles and yarn everywhere in the house where Gwen lived with her family. One of her sons complains he had to check the cushions before sitting down in any chair; and her husband, well he is certainly animated about the clutter.
As Elizabeth Zimmermann said: ''In knitting there are ancient possibilities; the earth is enriched with the dust of millions of knitters who have held wool and needles since the beginning of sheep.'' So it is the world loses another extraordinarily rapid knitter, Gwen Matthewman, who has joined the dust of millions of knitters before her.
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| Gwen Matthewman in the 1980's |
During the 25 years when she held the speed knitting record, Gwen made several appearances on the BBC demonstrating her skills. Have a look at a tribute clip put together about Mrs. Mathhewman, here. Note the Irish Cottage style of knitting she's using which has one of the needles tucked under her arm as she knits. A better view of Gwen's technique can be seen here demonstrated by the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It only takes a few seconds for you to note how different the motion of the hands and fingers is compared to the Continental knitting style demonstrated here.
It has been reported that Gwen could knit while watching TV (that's no big deal since most of us do that), but she could even read a book while knitting (which is a big deal; certainly if you could do this, reading a knitting chart would be a cinch because you could keep your eyes on the chart at all times). Gwen apparently always finished one project before starting another (some of us have problems with many WIPs, I'm not saying who might have that problem, but you can guess). She was reportedly able to knit a man's sweater in 3 hours and completely make a child's sweater in less time than it took to wash and dry one. (Ah, that's fast!)
A down side if you watched the tribute video through to the end is that there were knitting needles and yarn everywhere in the house where Gwen lived with her family. One of her sons complains he had to check the cushions before sitting down in any chair; and her husband, well he is certainly animated about the clutter.
As Elizabeth Zimmermann said: ''In knitting there are ancient possibilities; the earth is enriched with the dust of millions of knitters who have held wool and needles since the beginning of sheep.'' So it is the world loses another extraordinarily rapid knitter, Gwen Matthewman, who has joined the dust of millions of knitters before her.
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