The link below is to a video that has a narrative in French (which I can understand about every 5th word of), but the video itself tells a real story of lace knitting.  I am simply stunned that these women (and even young girls) can knit lace that fast out of yarn that's much finer than what I'm currently using.  If you're a spinner you'll also be amazed at the speed with which they spin, but it's the knitting speed that amazes me.  The young girls who are just learning knit at about the speed that I do when knitting lace.  The older women knit at a speed I can never approach, not even when simply knitting plain stockinette stitch on socks (and I used to think I was reasonably fast).  Sigh...