Ch 4 Game of Wool. Britain’s Best Knitter

Was that Elsa? She was lovely, and her tank top was excellent, considering the time they had to make it.

I think the concept is flawed, as knitting is very time-consuming and TV needs fast results. Unless they are going to use chunky yarn all the time (which, as we saw, restricts the range of techniques they can use) things won't be able to be made 'in real time'.

I'm pleased there is a knitting show, as I'm an avid knitter, but the 'bake-off' format isn't right for it.

I'm not a fan of Tom Daley either. I'm not sure why, but he irritated me on Traitors too. And he looks ridiculous in the things he wears (as would anyone - that's not personal to him). People wear things like that at yarn festivals (I've seen crocheted lederhosen and men wearing gaudy cloaks and jester's caps), and are a classic example of 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should'.

There's not much suspense (I was going to say 'tension'!) in watching people knitting next to each other on sofas. But I did like Holger!

I was looking forward to watching this but was quite disappointed. Very clever knitters and what some of the contestants turned out was amazing, but I shan't be watching it again.

As a friend used to say "Is this another nice programme to fall asleep in front of?"

I'll take a look, perhaps one wet afternoon this week.
I used to knit until a shoulder injury made it too painful and so changed to crochet but perhaps it's time to get out the knitting needles again.

Doodledog Yes, Ailsa. I could happily sit and knit with her for a couple of hours. She has a calming presence.

Apparently the two judges have designed for famous brands and are very, very experienced but I have never, ever heard of either and have knitted and crocheted for more years than I care to remember.

I'll stick with it for a while, as often it is getting to know the contestants that makes this sort of thing interesting. I did wonder what the task would be in the final if they had to make a fair isle tank top in 12 hours for the first episode!

I would like to see more explanation of techniques. I can't remember their names yet, but the young chap used a ladderback method which I would have liked to learn more about, for instance. I am used to fair isle and steeking, but not everyone is, so that could have been explored more, too.

Who knows though - as the numbers of contestants reduces there might be more time for that sort of thing.

Here they are:

www.sekhandmade.com/meet-the-maker-gansey-knitting-sourcebook/

I agree the format isn’t great. As for Tom’s outfit, there are no words.🤣
I have knitted many Fair Isle jumpers, I think using Chunky wool to save time was a no no. Knitting with large needles can be quite difficult, in my opinion.
A knitted sofa cover, why?
I watched with a friend, conversing through our phones to make it more interesting.

I watched with a friend, conversing through our phones to make it more interesting.
Me too

I might have watched this as though not an avid knitter I am a textiles of all sorts fan - however I have been put right off it as it's presented by Tom Daley.

Since his appearance on the Traitors - where he came crossed as unpleasant and self-important. ...and afterwards said he'd tried to persuade the producers to "resurrect" him - I have totally changed my opinion of him.

I also heard him complaining that he wasn't allowed to wear his "own brand" commercially available knitwear for the show".

I did think, after a while, that it was a bit like watching paint dry. Looking at people knitting, however talented they may be, is probably one of the least exciting things I can think to do!

And, really, would you knit a sofa cover?

I think this is just an attempt to add another hobby/craftsy type programme to the growing list and I reckon they're running out of good ideas!

I'll give it a second chance next week before giving up.

This falls well short of The Great British Bake Off and The Great Pottery Throwdown.
Tom Daley is ok as the presenter and the judges are clearly very experienced knitters but it somehow doesn't have the same vibe as the baking and pottery competitions. Perhaps it's early days for the knitters. I will give it another go, though.

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 thought it was disappointing. Time constraints make learning anything (I’m an average knitter) impossible and the presenters are as dull as ditchwater.
The sofa cover on the left was ridiculous and a waste of air time. Ditto Tom Daley.

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 was disappointed too. I usually love any craft/ art type programme but found this dull. Not disputing that there are some brilliant knitters. In my opinion Tom Daley is not an inspiring presenter.

I wasn't sure if the idea behind this programme would work and it doesn't.

Knitting is something we do to relax and maybe use to reduce any stress. The sofa thing was ridiculous and it's so hard to knit with those huge needles.

I think they need different judges also. Intersia knitting I tried once and thought never again.

I have some huge needles which were inherited from MIL but have never used them. They don't look as if they've ever been used, in fact.
The only thing they seemed suitable for was knitting dishcloths.

I think it had no vibe at all, and those two women judges….words fail me. Talk about disheveled. I rather liked Tom’s kilt. They are all the rage in London I hear. My son has a camouflage one.
The knitters were excellent but the program boring.

I quite liked the idea of this, and it wasn’t too bad to watch.. However, why in the world did they choose Tom Daley as the presenter? He was boring, clearly not the slightest bit interested in the contestants or their work, and looked a fright! What on earth was he wearing? It was horrendous.
I liked the contestants, and I liked the idea, but in reality it failed miserably. I probably shan’t bother to watch again, unless it’s to see if it improves. It certainly couldn’t get any worse! A change in presenter might help, but I think it is a no-no. I can’t see a series coming out of this.

I knit occasionally, adore fair isle, but I hated the fair isle bit. Why not ask them to design a sweater for a teddy, show off their design skills (loved that bit) but make it in proper fair isle yarn.
I quite liked the sofa bit, but again far too big. Why a sofa? Why not a child's chair? And those ridiculous needles?!
I liked Tom Daley, loved the kilt. I think it's the programme's design team that need to be redesigned

Interesting that the 2 men who tried something 'different' - the man with the steeking (I'd love to have seen a real steeked top) and the lad with the ladderback technique (again information and a graphic to explain would have been good), and wasn't he the sunset designer with intarsia? - were the ones deemed weakest. They were the most interesting.

I'm also not a fan of Tom 'he should have stuck to diving' Daley.

It seems he's trying to promote knitting; good, but secondary to promoting himself; bad.

Won't be watching.