Ch 4 Game of Wool. Britain’s Best Knitter

Retroladywriting

I was very disappointed. The 'knitting' was extreme (as the presenters pointed out several times) so didn't reflect the actual real-life knitting we do in real life. The two judges were pretty useless too. They didn't critique the knitting like the judges in the Sewing Bee and seemed to be focussing purely on the design element, which considering what they, and Tom Daley, were wearing, isn't really surprising I suppose. As for covering a sofa in knitting - who would?

No words for whatever that was that Tom was wearing.

I agree about the judges. They seemed confused about what they should and shouldn’t say. Their comments weren’t useful at all.

Maybe they are better designers than they are TV judges. 😉

Disappointing.
Chunky wool and fairisle is just silly. As is knitting a sofa cover.
I felt it was all a waste of good wool to be honest.

Di Gilpin is quite famous in the knitting world, in fact I attended one of her workshops many years ago. However, I am too old school to approve of using chunky yarn for Fair Isle knitting but it would have taken a very long time to finish the garments otherwise and I do wish this programme had abandoned the time limit nonsense and allow the knitted items to be properly finished. If Tom has knitted his own outfit then he could do with attending one of Di's workshops to learn about tension and finishing.

Just watched it.

Well, it wasn't as bad as I anticipated! The tasks were quite ridiculous, of course and those huge needles? Just why?
I did think it was a waste of yarn!

The other thing that was noticeable was that one of the contestants wore crocheted items and some examples she showed of her work were crocheted too.

Will they be tackling crochet next time? It is called Game of
Wool, not Game of Knitting.

I felt sorry for Gordon; that woman on the cruise was extremely rude and sexist too. I've joined in a knitathon on board ship on sea days - we made blankets to hand to a charity for distribution to charities in cyclone-hit areas.

PaynesGrey

Di Gilpin has a lot of patterns on Ravelry. She’s the founder and creative director of Di Gilpin Ltd, her hand-knit design studio which has been based in Scotland for over 40 years. Sheila Greenwell is her production manager.

Chunky Fair Isle? I would rather have seen the finished objects on mannekins so we could have a closer look. The camera angles were poor and not enough time given to to the judging as far as the viewer could see.

Colourwork in a spiral is going to create jogs so I would like to have seen how the knitters dealt with that. The focus was all on the motifs rather than the quality of the knitting.

Unlike the pattern challenge on Sewing Bee, it wasn’t really a level playing field with everyone doing different neck and armhole finishes. Did Steeking Gordon actually sew along the seam edges before he cut?

Ailsa came across as the most talented and calm.

I didn’t watch all of the sofa challenge but wasn’t impressed with the end results. One was a dog’s breakfast and the other looked little different to draping a throw over the sofa.

Next week, dog outfits. No, no no.

There’s a reason why knitting isn’t suitable as a time-constrained solo or team sport and this showed why.

I hadn't realised next week's was dog outfits. Oh dear. I hope they don't use actual dogs as models!

Why didn’t the first challenge show the ability to read a pattern, like they do on Sewing Bee?

J52

Why didn’t the first challenge show the ability to read a pattern, like they do on Sewing Bee?

Yes, that would have been better rather than designing in the first programme and that silly sofa task.

I watched Game of Wool this afternoon and enjoyed it.
I am a very inexperienced knitter but can understand why purists may be irritated by the chunky knits and silly group project. I thought the judges were lovely and nice to see men involved in the competition.
The poncho worn by one of the judges was stunning.

I'm not much of a knitter, but I love e all the creative competition shows! I thought Tom Daley was great, he has done so much to promote knitting for the younger folk. I loved how everyone was wearing their own knits! Their tank tops were so colourful, I might try some Fair Isle. My previous attempt was for my daughter when she was about 6...she's now 47...I made her leg warmers in all sorts of colours, Scandinavian patterns,very nice except 1 leg warmer had 6 reindeer running around it and the other only had 4...

I found the two judges dreadfully dull. (Sorry ladies, I'm sure you're lovely people really), but we need judges with a bit of personality, like the great ones on the Sewing Bee programme.
I like Tom though, and hope the series improves .

Emeraldforest

I'm not much of a knitter, but I love e all the creative competition shows! I thought Tom Daley was great, he has done so much to promote knitting for the younger folk. I loved how everyone was wearing their own knits! Their tank tops were so colourful, I might try some Fair Isle. My previous attempt was for my daughter when she was about 6...she's now 47...I made her leg warmers in all sorts of colours, Scandinavian patterns,very nice except 1 leg warmer had 6 reindeer running around it and the other only had 4...

If you try fair isle for the first time, for goodness sake don’t use chunky yarn, or superwash/acrylic etc. you need a fine, ‘sticky’ yarn like Shetland wool (Jamieson and Smith Spindrift is perfect).

I watched the first episode but shan’t watch any more.
Ridiculous challenge ‘covering a sofa’ in 10 hours.
I like Tom but this didn’t do him any favours and , as said, the two old dears were hopeless.

Not for me I’m afraid.

Not good. I watched it on catch up last night, won't be bothering with the next episode. TD looked a right idiot, in a poorly knitted rag. The two judges had no personality and did not add anything to the programme.
Silly challenges, no way would anyone knit fair isle with those needles/wools, and the sofa covers - what was that about? Awful.
And next time animal clothes! No.

I stopped watching Sewing Bee as it has gradually dumbed down and got silly over the series, but this started out bad.

I thought both judges were ideal. I am tired of ‘big personalities’ and flamboyance.

I read the discussion on Ravelry. It’s been going on since last summer when the programme was in development and applications to take part invited. This was the original concept:

www.channel4.com/press/news/more4-cast-new-competitive-knitting-series-game-wool

I have no gripe with Tom Daley but would have preferred Ryan Gosling!

Extracts:

… each episode sees the knitters tackle two challenges: ‘The Big Knit’ where they’ll be working together in teams on an extremely complex project, as well as ‘The Wee Knit’ where they’ll take on individual briefs that will really test their capabilitie [and] skill level …

our formidable pair of experts [Gilpin and Greenwell] won’t be alone, each week they’ll be joined by a celebrity guest judge who’ll help them decide who goes through and who’ll be ‘cast off’ home.

I’m assuming that now means Daley every week.

I’ve been think about why the format doesn’t work (for me anyway) and that’s because it’s too static. It has taken the format of GBBO, Sewing Bee and Pottery Throwdown which involve dynamic crafts and and mapped it onto a static craft. Watching people sitting knitting just isn’t exciting.

Part of the excitment of the other shows is seeing contestants moving about from take to task and dashing to get finished even it’s only from counter top to fridge or slopping on some last minute icing; from sewing machine to haberdashery to mannekin or model, machine sewing bits of garments which should be handsewn, pinning things and hoping Esme doesn’t notice; from wheel to drying room and the jeopardy of the kiln god. Plus on Throwdown, we have the enjoyment of seeing the judges Keith and Rich and occasional guests demonstrate their skills.

I love to knit but it isn’t exciting to watch. What does one do under time pressure? Just knit a bit faster.

And where GoW has copied the blind judging format, it just doesn’t work in the context of a group project. Surely part of the judging should take into account how well people worked together, who put in more effort, who was more innovative. I didn’t watch the whole sofa cover challenge (bored with the frequent long ad breaks) just the end result so maybe viewers did see some discussion as the works were in progress. It seemed to me that the person who went home was judged only or primarily on a bad technical error in the first round but maybe he was equally poor in the second.

That's interesting PaynesGrey it's not really just a knitting programme in concept.. but a lot more with curious and varied challenges. There may even be opportunity for "darning needle" type knitting in the jewellery/sculpture sections..

I think calling it "the game of wool" is misleading as clearly you may find people knitting with (say) old video tapes or wet spaghetti as you might do in a textiles degree or foundation course!

There may be no wool involved it seems to me.

I think calling it "the game of wool" is misleading

Or crocheting, rug making, felting etc

Primrose - I think your description of the judges is disgusting. Maybe think about how you have internalised misogyny and ageism.

It was disappointing, wasn't it? The two judges had no personality at all, sadly. Why not have one who isn't a technical knitter but is a designer? I'd suggest Zandra Rhodes. I know people who've done amazing Fairisle work - I'd rather see one they've prepared earlier rather than have them cobble something together against the clock on crazily vast needles. As for Tom Daley - just.. no.

While I’m not impressed with the format of the show, I wish they had come up with something original rather than copy the format of other craft shows, there is no doubt that Di Gilpin is a very talented designer. How about this?

This is a very pleasant podcast where Gilpin and Greenwell discuss the making of the show and many other things.

tjfrog.co.uk/tjfrog-chat-with-di-gilpin-amp-sheila-greenwell/

Both are quietly-spoken, modest women but then Patrick and Esme on Sewing Bee and Keith and Rich on Throwdown are not exactly loud. Nor are Prue and Paul on GBBO.

At least they didn't throw some inane comedian into the mix !!!

Asking talented knitters to knit with very thick yarn and huge needles was an insult. Better to let them finish their garments over a few days or at home.

I recorded this so I could forward through the boring bits and ads. I haven’t knitted for ages and this hasn’t inspired me to dig out my needles.

You wouldn't learn anything about knitting on this programme, only about some poor souls getting very stressed.
It was a badly designed first episode. Can it be rescued? Not by making coats for lapdogs....pppplease

This programme was a bit of a lark really. Took the Great British Sewing Bee concept and format one step too far.

Reminded me a bit of Blue Peter. Here is one. l made earlier. Looks cheap and a bit desperate really.

Cutey Tom Daley hair cut awful. He is a real mish mash of umpteen things.

He is not a natural presenter and needs lessons in this area.

Shame really. As knitted garments can be very creative and beautiful.