Game of Wool | Wk 2
...from a crocheter's perspective
This week’s episode of Game of Wool was Icons Week. The remaining nine knitters tackled both a solo challenge and, after being split into three teams, a group challenge.
The solo challenge required contestants to create a two-piece outfit for an Italian Greyhound. The garment required both creativity and structural integrity; using both knitting and crochet. The contestants had 12 hours.
Meadow | during construction, her novice knitting skills were pointed out, a crocheted crown was to accompany her outfit celebrating Freddy Mercury; while her knit skills were again criticized during judging, her crochet skills were complimented.
Dipti | “a massive fan of crochet”, crocheted a Unicorn horn to go with her Unicorn themed outfit.
Lydia | “loosely inspired” by the Notting Hill Carnivel, incorporated crochet in her outfit’s headgear.
Isaac | recreating the Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty, crocheted using the loop stitch for his head piece and around the edge of his coat; during the judging his use of the loop stitch was complimented.
Simon | “I’m not a crocheter”, decided to crochet a tiny bell hat as well as freehand a stained glass window element that he would make up “on the fly” for the coat, to which one of the judges replied (against a background of pensive music) “you’re taking a wee bit of a risk there”; during the judging his weak crocheting skills worked against him.
Stephanie | honoring the Chelsea Pensioners, decided to crochet a black tricorne hat.
Tracy | used mosaic crochet primarily in her outfit celebrating David Bowie, the judges were seen to be skeptical regarding the fact that her design was basically a rectangle that she would shape to fit the dog after completion. During the judging, the fabric resulting from her mosaic crochet, which did not conform to the dog’s body, did not sit well with the judges, neither did the fact that her rectangular construction left the dog with bare shoulders and a bare chest.
Ailsa | incorporated a crocheted traffic cone hat.
Holger | whose design was based on the Italian Commedia dell’arte, had the winning dog outfit; his designed played to his obvious strengths; his crochet detail was the crown on the headpiece.
So far as crochet doggy outfits and headgear, there are countless free options available pretty much everywhere. Here are a few options - Bit & Bobbles Crochet Dog Sweater (intermediate), Crochet Family Dog Sweater (intermediate), Hobbii Wally - Dog Jumper (intermediate).
The group challenge required the creation of an 80s jumper using only mohair wool and incorporating the Intarsia color change technique with graphic, inventive designs. They had 10 hours. Crochet was not an element of any of the three designs.
I agreed with the selection of the week’s Big Knitter, as well as the selection of the person Cast Off. My only reservation was while the Cast Off-ee may not have been able to cut the mustard as a knitter they were obviously one of the show’s talented crocheters; I wish they had deferred the heavy knitting lifting for the jumper to one of the better knitters on their team which may have saved them from being eliminated.
For the jumper, Yarnspirations has quite a few free patterns. I’d suggest the Caron Vertical Ridges Crochet Sweater (easy), Caron Rocky Mountains Pullover (easy), Blocks in Colors Crochet Pullover (intermediate), Crochet Landscape Sweater (intermediate), TL Yarn Crafts, and Ravelry also have free pullover patterns. And just as with for the contestants on Game of Wool - make the final design reflective of you and your personal style - patterns are just a suggestion, also keep in mind that none of the team designs on the show ended up the way the participants originally intended, and yours does not have to look exactly like the pattern.
What were your thoughts about this week’s episode? Do you think the judges got it right? How do you think things would have turned out if the emphasis had been on crochet as opposed to knitting? Leave your thoughts in the comments.