In the course of my deep obsessive thought about the order in which to knit the planned projects for the season, I bought a new knitting book, Seamless Knit Sweaters in Two Weeks. I hadn’t considered this book previously, since speed knitting is not usually a goal for me.

If you knit faster, after all, you just end up spending more money on your hobby. But then I saw Bang Out a Sweater 2020. Apparently, Mason Dixon fans knit an entire sweater in the month of February every year. I think it usually takes me about six weeks.

Could I knit a whole sweater in the shortest month of the year? The idea has been growing on me.

Let’s get back to Seamless Knit Sweaters in Two Weeks. The author, Marie Greene, claims that an average knitter can knit a sweater in two weeks or less. Here’s how:

  • Knit three to four hours a day — Greene does an hour before work, a bit more on her lunch break, and a couple more hours in the evening.
  • Knit seamless sweaters to avoid the finishing and sewing up.
  • Use a fairly large gauge. Most of the sweaters in the book are about 5 stitches to the inch.
  • Limit fancy bits to specific accents, so that most of the knitting is plain stockinette.
  • Use simple stitch patterns that can be easily memorized for the parts that aren’t stockinette.
  • “Remember: every time you check your phone, take a potty break, or make another cup of coffee, your knitting pace slows.”

Greene also reminds us that our health should come first.

This is a completely new perspective on knitting.

The sweaters are varied and pretty. They don’t look like super-quick garments. Some have special features, and the classics shown below are both well designed.

I need a zombie project, though. And I feel a little bit of pressure to get the baby sweaters done quickly, or at least before the baby grows out of them. So what if my zombie project was a two week sweater? Then my epic baby sweater could also get finished in February, right?

This doesn’t seem very logical, actually. If you’re banging out a sweater it clearly means you have to work on only that sweater. And avoid those potty breaks.

Then start that baby sweater in March?

It’s very cute, though. Perhaps the zombie/ epic system is incompatible with the two week sweater or even the four week Bang Out a Sweater plan. More obsessive thinking may be required.