The Game of Wool

Have you heard about the new competition show ‘Game of Wool’? It’s on UK television right now on Channel 4. You can watch replays here from within the UK, and from outside the UK you can watch the episodes on Youtube or Dailymotion.

A Knit version of Bake Off?

In a nutshell, you can compare the Game of Wool to a fibre arts version of Bake Off, or Masterchef. Basically it’s a competition show where they start with 10 contestants, and each episode one of them gets sent home.

Game of Wool showcases a variety of skilled contestants; some are better at knitting while others are more proficient at crochet. Even though the show’s tagline is ‘Britains Best Knitter’, the Game of Wool has both knitting and crochet challenges, and asks contestants to be well versed in both crafts. The show’s social media channels had mainly been focusing on knitting prior to the first episode, so this came as a bit of a surprise to the audience. In a recent interview with Gathered, show host Tom Daley says “The contestants have to be able to knit and crochet because it’s the Game of Wool!”. Judges Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell have the daunting task of reviewing each contestant’s skills and deciding who goes home, and who gets to stay in the competition.

Competitive knitting?

In anticipation of the show, many knitters and crocheters were sceptical about the competitive aspect of the show. Every crafter knows knitting and crocheting takes time, how is that going to work if you only have a limited amount of hours per challenge? Having said that, the Game of Wool is definitely not the first fibre arts competition. You might have heard about the Danish show ‘Den Store Strikkedyst‘, which first aired in 2014. It was renewed for another 3 seasons, one of which is now on Youtube. And I’m sure you’ve seen the famous clip of an Australian knitting competition in 1971, where knitters put talcum powder on their hands and needles as they “prepare for combat”. In the clip, it mentions a new national champion which means this wasn’t the first time they had a competition either!

So while a fibre arts competition isn’t necessarily new, the Game of Wool is the first knitting and crochet competition on UK television which is quite exciting. On top of that, presenter Tom Daley – who you might know from the Olympics! – brings a whole new generation to the world of knitting and crochet. In just a few years time, his fibre arts account @MadeWithLovebyTomDaley has amassed 1.4 million followers on Instagram. To put that into perspective, major craft brands like Joann’s or Lion Brand Yarn have 812K and 556K followers respectively, Stephen West @Westknits has 343K, and Knitting for Olive has 615K. There are two really big names in the knitting and crochet world which come close to Tom Daley’s follower count, which are Petite Knit (1.4 mln) and Naztazia (1.3 mln).

Tom Daley is bringing a whole new wave of knitters and crocheters into the fibre arts world, which I personally think is very exciting. Sure, not all knitters and crocheters may agree with his preference for chunky yarns and bold, often gimmicky designs, but it’s undeniable that many younger people are discovering their love for knitting and crochet through Tom Daley.

Impressions of the show so far

We’re up to episode 4 currently of the Game of Wool, and it is fair to say that most knitters and crocheters are not a fan of the show. It is very much intended as an entertaining show for a wider audience, which means that the show doesn’t focus too much on the technical skills involved and instead zooms in on potential drama between the contestants and judges and the aesthetics of the creations.

To be completely honest, even before the show aired I personally was very sceptical of it because they used so much AI in their images on social media, including the one above. There are so many ways to include actual photos of yarns, actual people knitting, that it felt a bit cheap to use so much AI.

They’ve even used AI generated images in the show itself. This image is from episode 2 of the Game of Wool, where they want to show the difference between knitting and crochet. For the knitting image, you actually see two sets of knitting needles. And the crochet hook looks so wrong! With so many talented graphic designers with knowledge of knitting, and the Game of Wools £240.000 budget for the show, there really is no excuse for using AI images. And even if this was a last minute idea to include commissioned graphics, they could have easily used photographs instead.

Knitters have been quite disappointed in the show so far, with the main complaint being about the time constraints of the challenges. In the first episode, the contestants have to knit a stranded colourwork slipover in 12 hours, and for the team challenge they knit a sofa cover in 10 hours. One knitter comments about the first episode “It was less about skill and more about what you could throw together in a really short space of time”, while others voice their concerns for injuries: “12 hours? Maybe its a competition to speedrun carpal tunnel syndrome”. It seems as if the production team and the judges Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell learned from these first challenges, as the ones in the second episode are much more manageable.

Others are more hopeful about the show, one commenter says: “I would honestly love to see the show pivot next season to doing swatches, judges on technique and skill and have one big project for the finale.” Some hope the show will follow the format of other competition shows where contestants are allowed to take their project home for the week and then return for judging, giving them much more time.

How did the ‘Game of Wool’ come to be?

The show is presented by Tom Daley, and co-hosted by judges Di Gilpin and Sheila Greenwell. In an interview, Di Gilpin says they were approached in 2022 with an idea for the show. At the time, Di and Sheila were working with the production team in their studio. “[W]e have long chats about, you know, all the amazing projects we’ve done over the years, and [the production team] came back to us and said ‘Can we repurpose this and do a knitting show?’ I had never watched The Sewing Bee or any Bake Offs or anything. But I thought, yay, absolutely fantastic. Let’s get knitting and crochet out there, and so we started chatting about possible kinds of challenges.”

Tom Daley was also very enthusiastic about the show from the very first moment. “I mean, when I got approached for it, it was a no-brainer. But then there was a short list of presenters! I got the job, and I was super excited about it. It’s my first proper presenting gig, so I’m, yeah, I’m excited about it.”

Game of Wool – Hit or miss?

While the challenges are definitely on the quirky side – crochet deck chairs, anyone? – it does sound logical that TV shows nowadays have to have a bit of sensationalism in order to attract viewers. There have never before been so many different creators – TV channels, digital streaming services, and millions of Youtube channels and podcasts – competing for their audience’s attention, so it’s understandable that the show could not ‘simply’ go with more straightforward knitting challenges such as reverse engineering a swatch or playing yarn chicken. Tom Daley is an Olympic diver, so yes of course they’re doing a swimwear challenge for ‘holiday week’, instead of something more traditional like christmas wreaths.

Which fun challenges would you have the contestants do? I’ve heard great ones such as having them reach into a bag to choose ‘mystery yarn’, and then having to make something that showcases that yarn. Or winding a whole ball of mohair on a yarn winder without getting an electric zap.

For anyone watching Game of Wool, I would invite you to watch it through a softer lens. After all, it is aimed at the general public, and not at us knitters and crocheters. There have been some interesting developments throughout this first season already, and I for one am very curious for the following episodes and the possibility of a second season.

Carmen Jorissen is an innovative knitwear and crochet designer who has been inspiring the fibre arts world with her patterns and tutorials since 2012. Renowned for her joyful approach to colourwork, she makes complex projects fun and accessible. Carmen shares her passion in her beautiful book Breien Met Kleur (2023), translated into English in 2026: Colorwork Knitting from Head to Toe.