The Game of Wool, Britain’s Best Knitter on Channel 4, has sparked controversy in the knitting community. Showing a lack of care for the traditions and people who do the craft, Tom Daley and the producers indeed dropped a couple of stitches within this otherwise enjoyable show.
Hosted by former Olympic Diver Tom Daley, known for knitting on the sidelines, and judged by high fashion knitters Di Gilpin and Shelia Greenwell, and set in the Yarn Barn, a colourful and cosy studio in the Scottish countryside, the show is reminiscent of The Great British Bake Off. Balancing a friendly, comfy feel with the appropriate amount of puns.
In each episode, knitters compete in both a Solo and a Group challenge.. Knit well and they are crowned ‘the Big Knitter’ and given the sheep baaa-dge, but those who underperform are Cast Off.
It was in the Solo Challenge that The Game of Wool gets itself tangled. The Competitors had 12 hours to create a Fair Isle vest with repeating patterns and pears or motifs that represented them.
Why Knitters are Upset
Fair Isle knitting is a form of colourwork that uses only two strands, working in a round and employing only the basic knit and purl stitches. What most competitors use is the Fair Isle technique, a type of colourwork. The Shetland Organisation of Knitters, “appropriation”, states on their Facebook page,
“The over application of the term Fair Isle to refer to any colourwork not only muddies the boundaries of this living heritage craft, but it erases the other forms of colourwork knitting in the world, which deserve to be named.”
MSP for Shetland Beatrice Wishart wrote a letter to Channel 4 expressing her disappointment with the show and its lack of attention to detail and misrepresentations. Wishart notes that these mistakes were not made out of ignorance, as members of the production team had reached out to Shetland Knitters but chose to ignore the information and recommendations. Wishart ends her letter by inviting the show’s producers to visit Shetland and learn from the local knitting community first-hand.
Furthermore, the show and the judges’ incorrect use of the term ‘Peerie’ or ‘Peeries’ has also been criticised. Peerie is a Fair Isle adjective used to describe their traditional motifs, not a noun as it is used within The Game of Wool.
Goodbye to Gordon
Greater outrage from the knitting community is found in the ‘casting off’ of contestant Gordon, as his tank top was incomplete. Gordon is the only competitor to have travelled to Shetland to learn the techniques.
The show blames his use of Steeking, a term referring to cutting his knitting, which is a traditional Fair Isle technique, although not referred to as such in Shetland.
Cutting is not, as The Game of Wool presents, a risky endeavour. It is a traditional Fair Isle technique, which, when done correctly as Gordon did, does not unravel or ruin the work in any way. According to Gordon, his project was unfinished because he had to modify his needles to use the more traditional double-pointed needles, rather than the circular needles that most competitors were using.
Taking to Instagram to explain and defend his choice, saying: “My reason for choosing to do it was because I wanted to uphold and acknowledge the fair isle method of creating colour work in the fair isle style. It wasn’t a risk because steeking worked.
“My garment didn’t fall apart because I steeked it, and it certainly wasn’t slowed down by it. Part of the reason that Fair Isle knitters who were knitting for a living did it that way was because of the speed.”
Issues of technique are not the only problems that fans have with the show. The sponsor, Rowen, is selling the wool and pattern for three different contestants’ not-quite Fair Isle vests. These kits range in price from £80 to £110, do not include the needles, and most importantly, do not pay the contestants who created the design.
Needless to say, artists deserve to be paid, and both Rowen and Channel 4 should be ashamed of themselves.
The problem is not just The Game of Wool
The Game of Wool has not been the only controversial content in the fibre arts community recently. Back in September, science communicator Hank Green mansplained knitting in a now-unavailable Sci-Show video. The video used incorrect terminology to simplify knitting and combined it with other historical fibre arts. The worst offence, however, is the reductionist attitude towards the craft.
The bulk of the problem is that the video implies that knitting only became important when physicists could use it. It seems that Hank Green and the producers of Sci Show have forgotten the centuries of predominantly women’s work in providing warmth and comfort. Leading the knitting and fibre arts communities to be outraged at the misogyny inherent in the statement.
Grandma Hobbies, and Patriarchal Thought
At a similar time to the Sci-Show video, The Jubal Show, an American morning talk show, featured a segment on so-called ‘grandma hobbies’. The term is a categorisation of crafts, such as knitting, crochet, sewing, or embroidery, that have become popular among Millennials and Gen Z. Conversations around the term have come to the forefront as many believe it to be based on ageist and sexist stereotypes, with many calling for it to no longer be used.
While it is the elderly femininity that leads to a lesser perception of these skills, the terminology is not what defines them as feminine: it is the history. Removing women and grandmothers from the label erases the legacy of crafts and skills being passed down between generations of women. While many are no longer learning heritage crafts from mothers and grandmothers, erasing them will only add distance between the hobby and its maternal origins.
Grandmothers, in both age and gender, are not at fault for the perceived frivolity and simplicity. The fault lies with those who fail to respect the work of women, past and present. Let’s not pass the blame onto my Granny for the misogyny of others.
Discussion of gender is present within The Game of Wool. Contestants, led by Gordon Cree, engage in an open conversation about the gendered expectations associated with the craft. Gordon opening up about his experience of knitting in public and how it was suggested that it’s not a manly activity. The conversation is good, but it’s only the start of what needs to happen, as the show has yet to address the root problem.
Being a feminine craft, under patriarchal thought, knitting has an inherently lower status, able to be degraded into simple loops and knots. Certainly not befitting of a man. The show, to date, only addresses the effect that this line of thought has on men, but not on women. The shame faced by men who knit is a side effect of the longstanding degradation and disregard for the craft. The solution is in the application of value to the craft, with acknowledgement of its importance, unique aspects, and the technical prowess of the women who made something “as simple as a sock,” as Hank Green suggests.
The Game of Wool is clumsily attempting to raise awareness and interest in knitting among the public. While the show is enjoyable on the surface, it has disrespected the Fair Isle techniques and tradition in a manner reminiscent of the devaluation of feminine crafts.
Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Spencer is a 3rd Year History and English student interested in library science, baking, and storytelling.
