Tom Daley to Host Knitting Competition Show

There’s been talk recently that a British knitting competition show was in the works, and Tom Daley has announced on Instagram that he’s going to be the host.

With the working title of “The Game of Wool,” the program will be on Channel 4 and is currently looking for contestants.

According to a post on Gathered, the show will feature 10 contestants and each episode will involve two challenges. One will be a team project and one for individual knitters that aims to test their skills and their style.

I have no idea how this will work in the real world, since knitting takes a lot of time and there’s not really any way to speed it up. It’s also not super dramatic when you fail like it is when cooking or baking (or even in fashion design when you cut something wrong and it ends up not fitting).

In any case, the post says the judges will be Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell, who have knit for numerous fashion brands and will judge both knitting technique and creative approaches and the knitters are put through their paces on a variety of projects in both type and scale.

I’ll let you know more about it as we hear more about it.

In the meantime, if you happen to be a British knitter with an interest in figuring out what a knitting competition show looks like before the rest of us, you can apply to become one of the contestants at the Game of Wool website. According to the site, participants must be 18 or older and need to be able to commit to filming away from home for eight weeks.

The application states that they are looking for people with a passion for the craft, who are able to both knit and crochet, are honest about their skills and can share photos of their work. The deadline to apply is midnight on January 5, 2025.

If you apply I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Instagram]

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

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