Footage of Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship Is Even More Ridiculous Than It Sounds
The 2022 Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship went off in Joensuu, Finland, last week. And footage from the competition looks just as ridiculous as it did during the first one 2019. See the archived stream of the 2022 championship below.
Can you imagine performing live only to stop playing your instrument and pick up some needles to start knitting? Because that's what happens at times in this tournament.
The contest's Facebook page explains, "In heavy metal knitting, needlework and music become united like never before. On the same stage … there's heavy metal music and knitting shaking hands. Knitting to the rhythm of heavy metal music can be compared to playing air guitar."
At this year's championship, the U.K. team String Thing beat out their Finnish and Scottish/Indian rivals to win the 2022 Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship, per Euronews.
Before a German and Swedish team withdrew late in the contest, eight teams in total — including Australia, Finland, the U.K., Scotland/India and Japan — were vying for the crown.
But the winning team did a "surprising and energetic show," the competition's judges said. "Creativity was shown in many different forms — from costumes to the using of space and stage. … The show popped from the stage in the form of huge yarn balls and the audience was included to have fun with the artist."
After the first Heavy Metal Knitting Championship in 2019, the competition didn't return until a virtual tournament in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic sidelining the in-person festivities the year prior. But the live knitting competition returned to Joensuu this year.
The championships' organizer, WTF Productions, calls it "the oddball of all sports, crafts and hobbies … coined during the darkest and coldest hours of the Finnish winter in Joensuu."
The idea for the competition first came to them in 2018 after local knitters in the area were asked if it was possible to knit with their eyes closed, much as a seasoned guitarist might do when performing onstage, a la the veteran Swedish shredder Yngwie Malmsteen.
Learn more at heavymetalknitting.com.