Menokreatikkul; Game of Shambles

Well, the buzz has pretty much spread around the globe along the yarnies network... there is a new reality skills show airing on UK Channel 4 which has stirred up quite a lot of emotion.

Let me get the big stuff out of the way quickly and point you towards others with the time and energy to provide full feedback and reviews with in-depth, behind-the-scenes analysis. Actually, let me just give you the link to Deborah Knits' YouTube playlist for the show. When it comes down to it, having watched quite a few different YouTubers' views, hers is perhaps the most comprehensive, literate, informed and informative. If at all you are interested in the debate, I can recommend her assessments for each episode.

Overall, there seems to be a consensus on some key points:

• The name. Game of Wool is one thing. Subtitling it 'Britain's Best Knitter' is almost universally agreed among commenters to have been utterly misleading, downright deceitful, and quite possibly libellous.
• Crochet! As to that subtitle, it insults the fact that a significant amount of the work that is being done on the show is in crochet. Now, there are a few places in the world where crochet is conflated with knitting, but they are the exception, not the rule. This is a UK show, and in the UK, nowhere in the yarn community will you find mislabeling of the very distinct craft.
• The 'Tasks'. Frankly, they have been abominable, not at all what the crafting community was expecting (and certainly not this crocheter). The big first episode fiasco regarding "Fair Isle" resulted in the Shetland Organisation of Knitters putting out an open letter of protest to the channel, demanding an apology for egregious misuse of the term - particularly as the one contestant who knew and loved and carried out correct Fair Isle technique was the one first eliminated (as mentioned in last week's post here).
• The Judges. I don't know the two ladies who are the judges on this show, but they seem well-known and loved in knitting circles. Actual knitting, mind. When it comes to assessing crochet, they admit that is not their forte - but they are doing it anyway. Except for the one occasion when Janie Crow (a very skilled and commercially successful crocheter and a name I did know) was guest judge. She was a breath of fresh air because we got to see and hear some decent sort of judging from her. The two regulars just stand around looking like deer in headlights, and we hardly get a word of value from them beyond - I like it - errrm - it's creative... 

Okay, that all said, where am I on the scale of yeechh, to WTF?!! I've watched five episodes now and haven't been able to sit through any of them without cringing and gritting my teeth. I'm probably about two-thirds of the way up toward the latter. 

It is NOT a knitting show. It is a show in which yarn crafters are using both knitting and crochet techniques to produce some ridiculous items. 

It appears to almost be one great big infomercial for large-scale yarn manufacturers, rather than promoting the many incredible, local yarn producers.

I have to think that a lot of the fault of what we are seeing is a result of very poor production/editing choices. The channel has stated it's an entertainment show for 'knitter and non-knitters alike'... well, that would be okay if it were actually all about knitting (e.g., how about swatching? gauging skills? week-long projects for proper assessment and points-gathering in the weekly broadcast?) It would be okay, too, if it were presented in such a way that it might actually cause somebody to think, 'Oh, that looked fun, I could have a go at that!' Instead, given that the contestants have clearly been stressed at times, it might frighten folk off.

So why am I still watching it? As mentioned last week, I am there for the contestants alone. I do think that they deserve the support for having broken ground in this variation on the craft show format. Rumour has it that the second series is already underway. We are all hoping that the producers have been paying attention to the noise out here in craftland.

There is so much potential to truly celebrate the yarn crafts in a similar fashion to that achieved by pottery, cooking, baking and sewing shows. Instead, this one falls short (partly due to Tom Daly's prancing about in truly hideous costumes and attempting to pull off comedy one-liners), and as a result comes across more as a parody of yarnwork, to the point of being insulting. In fact, Holger manages to get that fact across with some delightfully disdainful retorts during the show. I actually think he should be doing the judging! 

Anyway, there it is. Something that had so many of us in the yarn crafts getting excited has proven very disappointing - but somehow we're all still eager for it to keep trying!!! I know that at least Cindy has been watching the show via VPN - anyone else???