Game of Wool – episode 8 – 21 December

Finals week at the Game of Wool and we learn who has won the “big needles and thick wool” trophy.

Di wore a stranded cardigan (that appeared to be worked sideways) and in her hair wore an uncut pom-pom supported by knitting needles.

Sheila work a garment knit using intarsia geometric shapes that draped like a shawl.

Holger mainly wore a deep red stocking stitch jumper at fine gauge, but was occasionally filmed with a stranded tank top. Lydia work a cabled grey sweater (but sometimes appeared in a plain grey sweater while visiting the haberdashery or being interviewed), and Ailsa continued her vintage look wearing a jumper with broad zig-zag horizontal stripes (and assorted dark green vintage open work jumpers while being interviewed). The pattern from Ailsa’s jumper is available to Guild members for personal use.

Group challenge

With only three contestants left, the “team challenge” became a “group challenge” to make a post box topper that recreated the Game of Wool world. This needed to include instantly recognisable characters of Tom and the judges and showcase the techniques explored during the competition.

With much hilarity, the team distributed the characters between them, Holger tackling Tom with his looped coat, Ailsa made Sheila with her intarsia top (and also a representation of the fields surrounding the Yarn Barn), and Lydia choosing Di with her headpiece represented by a small piece of lace. The Yarn Barn was represented by a curved sofa (built using a cardboard frame) that referred back to the first team challenge. The cast-off participants were represented by small objects associated with their makes – Dipti’s rainbow was instantly recognisable, and Stephanie’s red slippers were there, as were Isaac’s yellow smiley and Simon’s mace (that made the judges laugh).

The judges liked Holgar’s representation of the coat, and Sheila particularly liked the intarsia in Ailsa’s model of her. Di liked the lace in Lydia’s hair topper, but the judges were disappointed by the underarm gap in the sweater (a common issue – if you are struggling with avoiding gaps, there is plenty advice on the internet, for example from Very Pink Knits). While making the topper, the contestants joked that they should put their Baadges in Ailsa’s fields to represent the sheep, but – perhaps at the intervention of the production team? – they chose not to. As it was, the judges commented that there should have been sheep (and a tree) in the fields.

The Guild doesn’t have any post box toppers in its Collection because by the time people are able to donate them the weather has worked its worse and the toppers are way past their prime. However, the Guild’s Lincoln Branch made bollard toppers to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and had wisely made a spare (in case of loss or damage) that they donated when the display was taken down.

Individual challenge

The finalists were challenged to create a hat that defined them as a knitter, illustrating “your story”. There were no restrictions on yarn or technique, but the hat should be flawless and in a signature style. Judging was based on fantastic construction, stitch choice and a sense of the maker.

Ailsa, true to her vintage style, chose to make a “Breton hat” inspired by a Paton’s Canada pattern. She used a houndstooth stitch pattern in pink and green, choosing a 4-piece construction (three for the crown and one for the uplifted brim), adding a feather and knitted note in morse code in honour of women in occupied countries who knit secret messages into their items. Ailsa had chosen to knit in parts (rather than in the round) to ensure that the houndstooth patterns aligned correctly. The hat was judged to be “very stylish”, but the sewing of the crown was criticised and “would have looked better if you had gone back and sewn it again”.

Lydia hand dyed her yarn to make a beret with motifs based on Ghanaian traditions. The judges found it “quite delightful”, but instantly saw that elastic had been used to compensate for casting on too many stitches in the brim ribbing.

Holgen used cabling inspired by his southern Germany roots as the long stocking top of his hat, adding to stranded knitting in the motifs he had used in the first episode for the crown. Di was not convinced by his picot cast-on, but was impressed how he had absorbed the decreases into his travelling cables. His hat was commented on as an “original design”.

Learning more about topics raised in this episode

In this finals week, the judges placed emphasis on perfection.

Holger’s calculations that hid the decreases that shaped the top of his hat were commented on. His “special trick” was to include the decreases as part of the travelling of his cables, whereas the majority of knitting patterns would stack the decreases to be seen as a feature in themselves.

Joining components of a garment needs time and careful attention to detail. Lydia would normally have avoided her underarm hole, given time, using a technique like the one linked above. Ailsa took care to match up her houndstooth pattern between the three components of her hat’s crown, and often the sewing has to be reworked to get a “perfect” seam.

All three knitters had followed the mantra to “plan how you are going to finish before you start,” but the format of the programme left too little time to go back and make adjustments to “make it perfect.” That said, the items produced this week of a standard that trying to improve their imperfections was well into the realm of diminishing returns.

Congratulations to all the finalists for demonstrating and increasing their skills, for their humour and for their collaborative spirit, both with the other contestants and with the production team.

First published: 24 December 2025 12:00 pm. Updated: 24 December 2025 9:34 am.