Lifelines

 I certainly used them when I started knitting ganseys. 

Now, I knit finer, more intricate objects, always from wool yarns, and I do not use lifelines. I do use a knitting sheath, and blunt spring steel needles. I have been seriously knitting for 20 years. The first 4 years with hand held needles (circular, and DPN). Then there was 11 years of learning how to use a knitting sheath with pointy needles. The last 7 years have been a gradual transition to knitting sheaths with blunt needles. There was a period of learning that with knitting sheaths, blunt needles are better, and then development of better techniques for blunt needles, and learning  to make better blunt needles. The transition to blunt needles has allowed productive use of finer needles on finer wool yarns to produce finer fabrics. 

I assert: Lifelines can be replaced with 3 skills;

• Learn to feel the stitches as they are made, and use that feel to be sure the correct stitch was properly formed as you knit. The best solution to a knitting error is be able to fix the last stitch.
• Learn to feel/read the stitches you are knitting into, and use fine pointy needles and a crochet hook to fix any errors before making the error more onerous by knitting over the error and pushing it deep into what should be good knitting.
• If you have missed the error and pushed it deep into your knitting, you can use a fabric steamer to block the row that you have to frog back to; and make that row more stable and easier to pickup.

If you are knitting loosely, you can go back, deep into the fabric to repair errors without frogging. If you are knitting weatherproof, or very fine fabrics, or lace, then frogging and reknitting is likely the better fix.

A good knitter, can feel all the stitches in the fabric around the working stitch, and know when the working needle is near a stitch that is "wrong".  As soon as you feel the "wrong", fix it!  With practice, this can be even done with fine dark blue thread by by the light of a candle or the gloom in a movie theater.

There was a time, when English knitting cooperatives, worked in their gardens in the mornings and knit in the afternoon and evening producing objects to sale for cash . Candles were expensive, so there was very limited light, and yet they produced professional quality knit products.   We know it can be done!  It is just a matter of learning the skills and doing it ourselves. We develop the skills by - practice. We visualize what we want to do, and plan evolutions to become better.

They sang knitting songs to remember the pattern and count rows and stitches as they knit. I use a piece of wood that has grooves and slots that define the size of the objects I am knitting. For socks, it is the exact length of the foot I am knitting for.  I find such a measure gives a more accurate length of the sole of the sock. I can compare my knitting to the slots and grooves on the wood "story board" (by feel) and know when to move on to the next part of the pattern.  This allows me to knit socks for different purposes from different yarns at different gauges, and still have the socks fit. The slots and grooves for socks to fit me are also on a favorite knitting sheath that works with either 9" or  6 " needles, when used with a belt in my jeans. This allows me to knit socks for myself using my knitting sheath as a measure.  The knitting sheath, needles and yarn for 3 days of knitting fit into a knitting bag only 7" x 10" x 2".  My firmly spun yarns take less space than a similar weight of commercial sock yarn, and make socks that are just as comfortable, but more durable.  The 12" needles and their sheath remain by my knitting chair.

My epiphany came when I was knitting hard spun 6-ply / 1680 ypp yarn on 10" long blunt steel 1.5 mm steel needles. I knit a couple of pair of  these socks. It is not my favorite fabric with this yarn, but is is where I learned to feel the fabric. The light was good, and I had magnifying glasses handy.   I think the firm yarn and long needles conducted and amplified (?) vibration. Once I knew there was a sensation, it was a matter of detecting fainter vibrations in other (stiffer) knitting needles and (softer) yarns, and learning what the vibrations meant.  

I am knitting a few pairs of  fine socks to practice this skill.  This detection of  errors is best learned when knitting fine, firm fabrics -  e.g., garters, socks, mittens, gloves.  I find detection of errors by feel harder when knitting soft fabrics and soft [commercial] yarns. Also, I find it much harder to feel knitting errors when using pointy needles. This may just be me, but it may also be that the  angle from the shaft of the needle to the point makes it harder to feel small variations in spacing and tension. Also, I find that grippy needles are less sensitive. I like POLISHED steel. 

In a time of Covid, we learned how to binge watch movies and TV series. Leverage that, and learn how to knit in the gloom of watching Heartland or Madame Secretary or Gunsmoke!  I cheated and knit a few pair of white ski socks during Heartland . During the current binge of Madame Secretary, I expect to knit 3 pair of socks from purple, firm spun1,680 ypp sock yarn.  In part, this is a test of which gauge/needles/knitting sheath I like best for this yarn. The yarn is cabled up from commercial 2-ply wool weaving yarn. 

I also often knit objects that are intended to be functional rather than fashion statements. I fix errors that diminish the functionality of an object, but I may leave other kinds errors in the object -  to remind the close observer that it is HANDMADE.  I do not care if the socks in a pair differ by 0.07".  It is a gift, and I tell him that the bigger sock is for his his right foot, because we both know that his right foot is bigger. 

It has taken me 20 years, but I think I am starting to understand why master knitters expected apprentices to do knit stitches for years, before allowing them to knit other kinds of stitches.  Working intently with one kind of stitch allows a better understanding of the fabric.  Knitting fine socks is very different from knitting weatherproof ganseys -- each fabric has its own "Zen".  I consider it took me 12 years to understand gansey fabric, and after a few more years, I am just starting to understand sock fabric.

How fast can a hand spinner spin - part 2

 Twist allows short fibers to become yarn or thread. Twist organizes "fibers" and holds them together. Thin yarns and thread need more twist per inch. Very thin thread require a lot of  twist.

Traditionally, twist was the greatest expense in making textiles. For the hand spinner, inserting twist consumes time, and time is valuable. Fine yarns and threads need more twist, and thus are more expensive.

Thick yarns (low grist) can be made with less twist, but low twist yarns are less durable, not as warm, and do not have the drape and hand of higher twist yarns and thread.

How much twist is required for a yarn of a particular grist can be estimated from the table of Twist Factors  on page 383 of  The Big Book of Handspinning by Alden Amos and a simple calculation.

Alden discovered that some popular designs of spinning wheel fliers tended to self-destruct at speeds just over 2,000 rpm. (revolutions per minute) This exposes the truth that most modern spinning wheels are not made to insert twist faster than about 1,500 rpm. Now, there are some e-spinners that will insert twist at over 2,000 rpm, but they are single drive mechanisms, that alternate between a drafting/twist insertion mode and a wind-on mode, with the spinner controlling which mode is in operation by the tension of the yarn being spun. At twist insertion speeds of over 1,500 rpm, a human spinner's reflexes are not adequate switch between these modes to produce a uniform yarn.

Alden made my #1 flyer out of  aircraft plywood, and I have run it at 5,000 rpm. I use DRS, so there is a (crude but effective) clockwork synchronizing drafting/twist insertion and wind-on. DRS has  only one mode.  DRS is different! Spinning 17,000 ypp singles at 17 twists per inch, at 5,000 rpm produces ~ about 8 yards of thread per minute. No hand spinner can draft, control twist insertion, and wind-on that fast.  My distaff loaded with the combed top for that yarn only holds about 4 grams which spins into 140 yards of single. However, the smallest fault in fiber prep makes a mess. I actually have higher overall productivity running the flyer at about 3,000 rpm for all grist under  30,000 ypp. Spinning 10s, I produce about 10 yards of single per minute or a hank of 560 yards in less than a hour. Finer singles want more twist, and are produced more slowly.

The clockwork of DRS allows true worsted yarn or thread to be spun at these speeds. With a different fiber prep, the clockwork of DRS allows true woolen yarn or thread to be spun at these speeds. With DRS, fiber preparation is critical.

Most of my spinning is 10s (worsted, 5,600 ypp). For knitting I insert 9 tpi, and for weaving I insert 12 tpi.  This allows me to spin a hank of the knitting single in an hour.  I can spin/ply a 500 yards (8 oz) of 5-py gansey knitting yarn in an easy day.

Singles of 10s were the traditional building block of wool yarns for good reasons. They have enough twist to be durable and have good drape. They can be spun from almost any fleece.  As 2-ply they make good sock and jumper yarns. A good "gansey" (knit from 5-ply) is warm enough to sleep in snow or work in the top of a square rigged ship.  As 6-ply yarns, they can be knit into objects for cold weather wear. As 10-ply, (Aran yarns) they are ridiculously warm and durable.

Singles of lower grist, can be formed with less twist (faster on a single drive wheel) but with less twist they have less durability, and less warmth. Their great virtue is low cost because they require less twist.  Low grist singles with enough twist to be durable and warm, tend to feel like barbed wire.  

10s make a good compromise for a good yarn with reasonable effort. If I want good yarn fast, I spin worsted 10s.  If I want a thicker yarn, I ply or cable as thick a yarn as I need. Woolen yarns need more twist to be as competent, and thus with DRS, woolen spun takes more time and effort. 

If you have the resources, then finer yarns with more twist have virtues.  A 3-ply worsted spun  yarn plied up from 10s at 12 tpi is a nice sock yarn for walking, but a 6-ply from 20s is a smoother with about 3 times the twist for greater durability. (All are ~1,680 ypp).  Four 20s makes a 2,580 ypp yarn well suited to city socks. Finer yarns based on 30s spun at 17 tpi were the traditional yarn for  good hose for gentlemen. My net production of the finished yarns is about a 60 yards /hour. I budget a day to spin the yarn for a good pair of socks. (Longer for knee high.)  The finer plies take a lot more twist, and with a single drive wheel, that higher twist would take MUCH longer to spin.  With DRS, I can just change whorls, and the spinning time remains less than the time needed to knit nice socks.  That is why I use DRS.  For patterns see the original Weldon's Practical Knitter.

How fast can a hand spinner spin?

This is a question that has several answers.

For woolen, even a simple drop spindle will insert twist faster than most treadle spinning wheels. If you are looking to spin woolen yarn at 5,600 ypp, and willing to work very hard, a drop spindle with a very thin shaft and removable whorl is fast.  Most people do not spin that fine, and lower grist yarns need less twist and more ability to handle the produced yarns.  If you are spinning a 2,000 ypp woolen yarn, a wheel or e-spinner works well, and will be faster than a drop spindle.

The big deal is worsted. I have no idea how fast most modern spinning wheels  (single drive, flyer or bobbin lead) will produce worsted. Most modern "double drive" wheel are really single drive wheels with a complicated belt tension adjustment.    

Most modern treadle wheels have large amounts of slippage at the flyer/bobbin assembly whorl, and thus the ratio between the drive wheel and assembly whorl is not a good estimate of the actual rate of twist insertion.  However at high rates of twist insertion (greater than 2,000 rpm), without true DRS, it is essentially impossible to produce a high quality thread with uniform twist.

Great wheels are faster than most modern treadle wheels for woolen thread. They will produce woolen thread as fast as a drop spindle at less effort. They will produce worsted thread faster than a drop spindle but it is a difficult, high skill activity.

I have a true differential rotation speed (DRS) double drive wheel. For what I spin, it is far and away the fastest method of hand spinning yarn that I know.  It will spin 5,600 ypp worsted singles at at rate of 560 ypp, or about 400 yards of 5,600 ypp woolen singles per hour because I put more twist into my woolen yarns. I can spin 8 hanks of 10s per day. It will also produce worsted 11,200 ypp singles at ~ 400 yards per hour. 560 yards of 11,200 ypp single weighs half an ounce and takes me about 90 minutes to spin. That starts to be real work, I would not plan on more spinning more than 4 hanks of 20s per day. My wheel will produce 24,000 ypp worsted singles at about 350 yard per hour. It will produce 43,000 ypp worsted singles at about 100 yards per hour. A hank of "fines" weighing 6 grams will take me most of a day to spin.

 I never spin more than about 2 ounces of yarn onto my spinning bobbin, because with a higher effective diameter bobbin, my DRS system become less effective and yarn quality goes down. Regardless of the grist, I spin a hank (560 yards) and wind off.    

Your mileage may vary.

Learning to knit again

 The fastest that I have ever knit a good weatherproof gansey is about 2-weeks. Two hundred years ago, a good professional knitter could knit a "good gansey" in a couple of days.  From a young age they learned skills that had been developed over generations, and honed by a long professional training. Some master knitters thought it required years of practice to learn the plain knit stitch, and that an apprentice knitter should move on to other stitches only after the "knit stitch" had been perfected. 

Those generations of skills have been lost, and I do not have the advantage of long professional training.  Fussing around with only pointy needles for 15 years, and then taking 5 years work to out how to use blunt needles (pins, pricks) to knit better and faster has been a bitter dose of humility. I was always a quick study.  I was the guy that could sit down with a technical paper and in a few days, find the errors in it. And, yet it took me years to understand the virtues of blunt needles slid or "popped" in and out of stitches, compared to pointy  needles.

I fully believe that everything I have learned about knitting could be improved by a few generations of bright-eyed, nimble fingered knitters, working like demons, to knit silk hose for nobles and ganseys for  loved sailors. None of this is likely to happen. Nobles no longer wear handknit silk hose and sailors no longer go aloft in foul weather - even in square rigged ships.

And, I knit to make good objects. Victorian ladies knit to demonstrate disposable leisure time, that they  had beautiful hands, and to remind (rich) suitors of the virtue of  their "busy fingers". Whenever I think about teaching knitting, I remember these reasons for some knitting. Demonstrating leisure, beauty, and busy fingers may be good reasons to knit - who am I to dispute Queen Victoria?  

Queen Victoria did not approve of knitting sheaths in public.  In fact, she did not approve of manual labor within her sight. Fireplaces were cleaned daily and silver was polished out of her sight. Her rich ladies in waiting did not work at their knitting, they knit slowly (Weldon Style is slow!) to prove they were at leisure, and used large, slow, elegant movements to show their beautiful hands and associated rings and other jewelry.  Those were hands without the wear and tear of manual labor.

Fifty years ago, I learned a technique of knitting that was very similar to the technique of knitting described in Weldon's Practical Knitter, First Series. Weldon's praises German and Shetland knitting but does not discuss the faster continental style of knitting. Weldon's does not discuss the Shetland's use of knitting pouches.  Weldon's does not discuss hundreds of  years of use of knitting sheaths by professional knitters in Europe, or Great Britain including India and the factory run by the British Admiralty in China.  Weldon's is a lie. The patterns in Weldon's are mostly good traditional knitting patterns as used by good professional knitters. Knitting was a common profession, and every community had people with good knitting skills that were willing to share those skills. Every community had people that could make good knitting needles. Every community had members that could make good knitting sheaths.  Knitters with good skills and good tools could knit the patterns in Weldon's. A knitter using the techniques and tools illustrated and advocated in Weldon's would be utterly frustrated.  Weldon's was a lie.

Nancy Bush's book, Knitting Vintage Socks, takes sock patterns from Weldon's and dumbs them down so they are much easier to knit. Then, she devotes much space on how to knit those much easier to knit patterns.  Nancy Bush's patterns have 3 important advantages for the modern knitter: 1) they are easier and faster to knit; 2) the yarns are available in retail channels; and 3) the tools are readily available (even if Weldon did, not mention "Oh, by the way, you will need a knitting sheath for this pattern!"

The downside of Knitting Vintage Socks is that resulting objects are not as fine or durable as objects knit to the patterns in Weldon's.  I think real, professional quality knit objects are worth substantial effort.

Knitting sheaths support many techniques. I have found several techniques, and become proficient in a few. The techniques I have become proficient in are somewhat specialized for gansey yarns and sock yarns. These objects tend to be too warm for modern centrally heated structures, including places like homes, shops, churches, automobiles, trains, and airplanes. The objects I make tend to be durable - they are not fashion - with such durability, they are worth some effort. 

That brings us to back to Gladys Thompson's Sheringham ganseys. (I am somewhat obsessed with them these days and return to the topic frequently.)  I have been knitting socks [swatches] from yarns that I think might be appropriate.. They are firm, worsted spun yarns. (Unlike anything I see in the retail market these days.)  I am trying to make the perfect sock fabric that would make the perfect sweater fabric. 

Knitting socks from these yarns is one thing - that is very doable.  However, knitting a sweater is a larger project. Many modern knit sweater patterns call for about 40 stitches per square inch. The "ganseys" I knit have ~80 stitches  per square inch. The various fabrics I am knitting from sock yarns have ~150 stitches per square inch. So, knitting a Sheringham gansey is like knitting 4 other sweaters - I know lots of people that knit more than 4 sweaters per year.  My dentist was doing some work on an old fellow, and he felt so much better that his wife knit my dentist a sweater in a week as a thankyou gift.

Nevertheless, I am rethinking my knitting technique to facilitate fine knitting. The motions are smaller, and thus may be faster. The forces required in each stitch are smaller, again making it possible to knit faster. I am using less splitty yarns, making them easier to handle, and again allowing faster knitting. I do not find such yarns in retail channels. (This post is for spinners willing to spin firm, fine, worsted with high ply twist.)

I had always thought that the rules of the the various speed knitting competitions allowed knitting as fast as possible. Now, I think not. The results of  modern speed knitting contests make the reports of the knitting speed achieved by the Terrible Knitters of the Dales seem like pure myth. Terrible Knitters of the Dales were knitting gloves from fine worsted spun yarns on fine needles using knitting sheaths. They worked outside modern speed knitting competition rules. Few modern knitters use knitting sheaths, and the speed knitting competition rules specify big needles and splitty yarns.  Dear Hazel showed us the virtues of a supported working needle. 

After 20 years of knitting including 15 years of using a knitting sheath, I finally understand why a knitting master would require his apprentices to spend years perfecting their "knit stitch" before allowing them to move on to work involving purl stitch. Knitting fast and fine is a matter of feel - the needle moves faster than you can see, and you can feel if the stitch was properly finished sooner than you can see if the stitch was well formed. And, when knitting fast, it is important know as soon as possible if there is fault in the knitting, so you can go back and fix it quickly. Unknitting fine knitting is a slow and tedious process.  Knitting was perfected to go forward, not backward.

The fastest way I know to knit fine, firm, yarns is with blunt 1.5 mm spring steel needles and a knitting sheath. (Hand held blunt needles are worthless!)   Knitting a block of  knit stitches with blunt needles saves hours and hours. However, blunt needles are not useful in fixing knitting faults. I use fine pointed needles and a fine crochet hook to fix faults. Generally, I can feel a fault as it happens, then with a pointy needle and a crochet hook, the fault can be fixed in a few seconds.  If I was using pointy needles, there would be more knitting faults, but I could fix each knitting fault in several seconds with the pointy knitting needles in my hands. Between the slower knitting of the pointy needles and the longer time to fix faults, the blunt needles allow a panel of fine knit stitches to be finished much faster. The downside to my approach is that I need to keep a 4" pointy, 1 mm needle and  fine crochet hook handy - either on the window sill a few inches from my right hand or outside my breast pocket hanging from a magnet inside my breast pocket. 

These days, my knitting costume often includes either bib overalls or my leather welding apron. They both have good breast pockets, and help support the leather belt that holds the knitting sheath at what ever height it is needed considering the length of the needles and style of knitting sheath. 

I guess only old guys wear bib overalls. As an old guy, I have gotten pedantic.  I use 12" by 1.5mm needles for socks, but for the fingers of gloves and thumbs of mittens I regress to 6" by 1.5 mm needles. As a pedantic, I now consider them 2 different knitting techniques using different needles and different knitting sheaths.  That is, if we had a knitting co-operative with one person knitting the wrists and hands of the gloves and  another knitting the fingers/thumb, I would consider them to be using different tools and techniques.

Visualize what you want to do, then conceptualize a set of training exercises to acquire the needed skills, and acquire tools needed. There will be an iteration of improving skills and the tools. This is speeded up by making your own tools.  Some of the tools I make may be better than what I need, but I use the best tools available - anyway. My AddiTurbos have languished in storage for years and years, only coming out for the occasional test swatch - not even one full sock.

Polished wool

 A textile professional that frequently makes reproductions of old textiles for museums was asked to make reproductions of knit hats from the Tudor period.

The hats had a "polished surface, and that she was unable to reproduce.

The surface of the hats in question, looks just like the bottoms of some of the socks that I knit (from yarn that I made) and have worn several times. There are patches of such polished surfaces on some parts of my old ganseys that I have worn many times. It does not occur on objects that I have knit (even with knitting sheaths) from  commercial yarn that I have purchased in the last 15 years. 

That polished wool surface is produced with firmly worsted spun wool is tightly knit - knit using a knitting sheath that allows knitting more tightly than can be achieved with hand-held knitting needles, and that is then worn.

Think of a knitting sheath as a lever for moving loops of yarn. A knitting sheath provides more leverage so the loops can be moved more forcefully without damaging the hands and wrists. Yes, you can knit that tight with circular needles, but if you knit that tightly for more than a few minutes per day, you will ruin your wrists. And a knitting sheath allows knitting faster. If I are knitting fine fabrics, I need to knit faster to actually finish an object.  If I make slow progress, I give it up, and it becomes a WIP. 

These days, I knit and finish socks using 1,700 ypp worsted spun yarn on 1.5 mm needles at 12 spi &14 rpi. When I was young and foolish, I tried such knitting, and that resulted in a bin of WIP. From small swatches, it was clear that I did not like the fabric from the Nancy Bush solution (7 spi). 

Yes, it took me several years to work out how to use knitting sheaths. Now, much of what I know is in the videos in this blog. 

I often go back and review the basics as I know them on to use knitting sheaths, and I often find new things. 

For a long time, I thought it was much faster and easier on the hands to knit sock ribbing with dome tipped needles - So I would sit down to knit socks with 2 sets of needles. In the last few weeks, I have figured out how to do purl stitches in fine yarns quickly and easily with flat tipped needles. Yesterday, I took the dome tipped needles out of my sock knitting bag. Now, the knitting needles (pricks) in my sock knitting bag are 6- flat tipped, spring steel, 12" by 1.5 mm. 

Also in the bag are a thin slab of wood (the exact length of the foot that I am knitting for!), a leather apron, knitting sheath, yarn, magnifying glasses, yarn needle, a fine crochet hook,  and a couple of short-fine-pointy needles for aid in picking up or recovering dropped stitches.  (A knitter's dreams should exceed their grasp, and if you are knitting your dreams, some days you will drop stiches.) 

Knit to fit.

Needles and knitting sheaths for sock yarn

 I have knit dozens of pairs of socks from "sock yarn" on 6" - sock needles.  I wore out Addi Turbos knitting socks. I broke lots of little 6" wooden and bamboo needles. I listened to the conventional wisdom in the Social Media, and I tried diligently to implement it. 

However, most of the socks I knit were boot socks on 8" or 9" steel  US1 needles supported by 10" knitting sheaths. This brought the tip of the working needle up, into a space where I could see the knitting without hunching over, and without getting a sore neck.  Good posture is essential for sustained knitting.

Recently, as I have been seriously exploring serious knitting of sock yarns (worsted spun, high twist, 1,600 - 2,000 ypp).  I went back to making small swatches, on 6" - US 000 needles - pointy sock needles.  (I did not bother to test circular needles.)  This is not technology or technique that would ever get me to fine sweaters knit with such yarns -- e.g., Gladys Thompson's Sheringhams.  This tack was to eliminate the "impossible".

As a baseline, I am working with the 6-ply (3 x 2-ply cable) that I make up from commercial mill ends.  The commercial 2-ply has consistent grist, and I can cable it at consistent twist, to give me a uniform test yarn with minimum cost and labor. The labor (and cost) is in knitting the experimental swatches, otherwise called "socks". The faster the knitting, the lower the cost for the socks made!

My boot socks from gansey yarns have about 15,000 stitches in them. My sock-yarn-socks of the same size and height have about 32,000 stitches in them.  Ummm! Many of my test socks are only ankle high ~ 20,000 stitches  -  I think that is enough to test technology and technique. Compare that the number of stitches in a 4" swatch.

With all due respect to "sock needles",  I am back to knitting my standard 1,680 ypp sock yarn at a gauge of  12 spi x 14 rpi on 12" long needles made from AWG 14 music wire (spring steel, ~1.5 mm, 0.059 in.). The needles have blunt ends, which are almost flat, but are very slightly domed. I keep another 2 very fine, pointy needles handy for picking up stitches and a very fine crochet hook for fixing stuff.  The blunt needles are not good for picking up stitches or fixing dropped stitches, but they make up for those lacks with knitting speed and consistency.  I optimize my tools for their routine job, and make plans for - user errors. This allows knitting an object faster;  a couple of extra fine pointy knitting needles and a fine crochet hook do not take up much space in a knitting bag. The down side to this kit is that it needs a knitting bag that will hold 12" needles.    (I really do like the the compactness of  sock projects on sock needles, but the 12" needles let me knit much faster and much better.)  (Rutt also has descriptions and pictures of a "Terrible Knitter" swaving with short needles and Yorkshire Goosewing sheath. With fine sock yarn that technique leads to poor ergonomics. I believe that the purpose of knitting sheaths was and is, sustained knitting; e.g., good ergonomics.)

I think, the last couple of months recapitulating knitting tools and techniques for use with sock yarns and fine knit fabrics has been very worth while.  The best techniques that I found were remarkably similar to the best techniques I had found for gansey knitting, but had never made the effort convert to sock yarns. Thus, with sock yarns, I am back to 10" knitting sheaths, but because the forces are less, the sheaths can be finer, more delicate, and be held in place with more comfortable cloth tapes.  For sock yarns, I put the sheath under my right elbow, a few inches forward of where I place sheaths for 18" gansey needles.  The 12" by 1.5 mm needle arches forward under my right arm, and I rest my right wrist on it.  The knitting is in front of me, in easy view, while maintaining good posture.

This answers one of the questions left hanging by Brears in The Knitting Sheath published in Folk Life Volume 20.  Different knitting sheaths are of different sizes depending on the forces generated in producing specific kinds of fabric. Knitting weatherproof gansey require stronger (and larger ) knitting sheaths than knitting finer Sheringham style ganseys.

A knit stitch is comprised of 3 motions. 1) Pushing both needles forward and down with both hands. This also pushes stitches along the left needle toward the working tip with the next stitch(s) to be worked released by the left index finger.. 2) The right hand continues down so the right index finger can loop yarn over the tip of the working needle. 3) Pressure is released on the right needle and it springs up and toward the body, while the right hand moves stitches away from the tip of the needle. The motion of the right needle allow it to pop out of the last worked stitch leaving the just formed stitch on the right needle. Both needles continue their motion (mm). The working needle is ready to be popped into the next stich to be worked. Needle motions are small and can be wicked fast.

This provides feasible tools and technique for knitting Sheringham style objects. Such objects were knit and can be knit again. My fiber bins are overflowing, while my mill spun bins are near empty. Any large object I knit will be - hand spun. 

I start off with 4+1 needles, and switch to 3+1 needles as soon as I am past the heel. If I was knitting hose, I would likely knit the legs on 3+1 needles for greater speed.  I admit to still using 6" sock needles and 9" tubular needles on the fingers of gloves, thumbs of mittens, and such.

Both purl and knit stitches can be quickly made with blunt tipped needles supported in a knitting sheath. The direction of motion reverses, and the angle between the needles changes but in both cases making the stich is faster than with hand-held (pointy) needles including circular needles. Decreases and increases can be knit with blunt needles, but it is slower than with pointy needles. If most stitches in a project are increases or decreases than the project should be knit with pointy needles. My US 000 needle case contains both pointy and blunt needles. I switch back and forth depending on what I expect to knit the next half inch faster.  

One way or another, pointy needles require larger knitting motions. The flat tipped knitting pins or "pricks" can work with small motions, which can be much faster.  And the pricks can be easily made from a bit of music wire - one does not need to carefully grind points. And, it is easier to make knitting sheaths for blunt needles.