Hazel Tindall, who lives in Shetland, has retained her title as International Speed Knitting Champion 2008, beating knitters from Canada, France, Netherlands and America in the world championship held last month in Minneapolis, USA.

Each competitor used size 5mm knitting needles and 100% wool with 60 stitches on each row, knitting as many stitches as they could in three minutes, three times.  Hazel, who was representing the UK in the contest, knitted 241, 247 and 262 stitches in the three minute trials, beating her own record of 255.

Talking about her success she said "I'd like to dedicate my success to all the speedy Shetland knitters whose work had to be top quality and quickly produced in order to keep their families from starvation."

She has held the title of world’s fastest knitter since 2004 and only discovered about the contest by chance when surfing the internet.  Her success at the time caught the interest of the media and in an article in the Wall Street Journal they described the Shetland Islands as ‘a remote part of Scotland that produces power-knitters the way Texas produces high-school football players’.

For Hazel knitting is about enjoyment, not speed, so she is taking all this success in her stride.  Her advice for any knitter wanting to challenge the record is to concentrate on good technique, which will enable them to get the speed.

If you’d like to see Hazel in action you can see a film of her speedy needle work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEh7acrr5o&feature=related

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