So it's coming - the Game Of Wool: Britain's Best Knitter is beginning in the UK, on Channel Four this Sunday.
Let's begin with how it all started - with Bake-Off, or The Great British Bake-Off.
Have you ever felt the desire?
To go on Bake-Off or Sewing Bee.
Or more likely the scenario, have you ever been told,
'Oh, you should apply, you make a great banana bread,'
'You know how to use a sewing machine, go for it!'
I prefer to be realistic and know that these programmes are there to set us up for a burst of adrenalin, not a sense of calm and mindfulness, which is definitely what I get from baking, sewing and knitting.
And now twenty years after they began, the challenges and expectations are exponentially higher than making a great banana bread or knowing how to use a sewing machine.
We're basically talking the crafting Olympics, or British Championships at this point.
My main problem is of course that this isn't about running a marathon or competing in a triathlon in two hours,
👗 it's making a ballgown in five hours,
🪡 which would warrant lots more hand-sewing than can possibly be used,
🧵 and likely need at least five days with breaks, rests, meals,
📍 and flexibility to change the design as necessary for the model.
All to say this isn't realistic crafting. It's mind-bending, time-pressured crafting.
What Inspiration can be draw from Game of Wool?
As I mentioned above, there is a lot of style and shapes we can see and understand better if the judges and guides explore these elements on camera.
I have filmed a Rowan Magazine review which goes through some of these elements - it's in the editing stage, see last year's for guidance if you'd like my input.
The colour mixing and matching inspiration can be fun too - I do hope in this programme we see leftovers become a prime example of how yarn can definitely mix and match across colours where you may not have thought it necessarily advisable.
Be on the look-out too for advanced tips, which may not apply to your current project, but you can lock away for another time. As simple as if you need an item knitted quickly (like in a game show) use colour to show the drama and knit with thick yarn.
See the fun as well - Tom Daley is going to be a calm presence in this, I imagine. He's spoken about the show a little this week and explained that his coach told him to stop fidgeting between dives when he was in competition. Tom's boyfriend then suggested he try knitting, and the rest is history.
For our Olympic gold-medal winner, knitting always was about calming down, about resting, about finding mindfulness. It became so much more, as we now know with Tom's patterns, books and of course the new show he's been asked to host.
Do you have to watch Game of Wool because you're a knitter?
Absolutely not!
Unlike the Bake-Off and Sewing-Bee, this is made by the Scottish TV production company, Hello Halo.
This might mean it's approached in a slightly different way.
We're not sure yet how much the knitters expected to know. Maybe crochet, weaving, spinning and other wool-based crafts will be included. Perhaps we'll see the same knitters challenged to knit socks, jumpers and tea-cosies, along with fair-isle, lace, cable and entrelac stitches.
Will it be less competitive? – we know for a start that there will be group challenges, similar I suppose to how Interior Design Masters pairs or groups people together, as designing, decorating and dressing rooms or suites are time-sucking projects.
I do wonder whether there will be more time (Tom mentioned 12 hours), or indeed background knitters who will help support the bulk of the work - just as Interior Design Masters has painters, plasterers, carpenters and electricians on-hand to support.
This is a 'best knitter' competition, and we're going to be judging knitting – which in my eyes is something I'll try to ignore.
Knitting isn't about comparison, best or better, it's a relaxing restful, joyous and community hobby. And as I mentioned in my last email, there is a useful item or items at the end of a project – but knitting never really ends, we pick up the needles and start again.
It's a TV programme likely made for dramatic purposes – viewers can't get bored, we have to be entertained!
Remember we're watching maybe two or three days' of knitting, in one hour. That's not realistic.
So if you're finding adrenalin rushes that you just don't like, or if it's triggering your 'I'm not good enough' switches, then pick up your knitting, start clicking your needles and stop watching.
Let's continue with our knitting,
🧶 making mistakes because we're human and every knitter makes mistakes,
🧶 knitting slowly, because we like to, not because we can't knit quickly,
🧶 using simple stitches because we love them, not because we can't use the fancy ones.
🧶 and only knitting socks, or hats or scarves, because that's what we love to knit.
Let's sit back and love the fact that we knit, and love what a joy knitting can be.
You may have noticed the pattern shop is down at the moment. We had some issues with the website last month and it's taking longer than expected to get everything up and running again.
All the previous knit-alongs and step-by-step skills courses can still be found over in the Academy, here. All of these include patterns and support you in trying new knitting techniques.
And of course, all the videos are over on the YouTube channel - I'm not able to upload at the moment, due to needing to prioritise rest and self-care., but knitting videos don't get old, take a look through the archive and take a lucky dip!
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Find the newly revised archive patterns here