"If you're up for it, come knit in the mosh pit."

What do these things have in common? Women in Viking helmets with tiaras. A man dressed as a geisha. Several women who were headbanging. A man with face paint. Sumo wrestlers.

They were all on the stage in Joensuu, Finland on July 11, 2019 for the first Heavy Metal Knitting Championship. The 12 finalists (individuals and groups) would knit onstage in front of a Finnish metal band. They had earned their spots by submitting a video. The finalists come from all around the world: Denmark, Finland, UK, USA, Latvia, Russia, Israel, Japan, and Sweden. Each group drew a ticket which told them which song the band would play during their time onstage and they each got 1 minute to perform. There was an audience of about 200 people and it was live-streamed on their Facebook page. The contestants all appeared to be having a lot of fun. It was announced that this will happen again, next year. I’m looking forward to it. I expect even better performances in 2020. If you’d like to watch the entire thing, click here.

The winning group was Giga Body Metal from Japan. They had 2 members who pretended to play guitars, 2 members dressed as sumo wrestlers, and a man dressed as a geisha who was knitting. The judges liked their costumes, the storyline, and how they captured the audience.

2nd place went to Crafts with Ellen from Denmark. She posted a great video on YouTube that shows her experience. Very fun to watch, and not very long.

3rd place was taken by 9” Needles from the United States. This group of women wore Viking helmets with tiaras and had shields that said, “knit or die”. Balls of yarn were tossed at them from the audience and they deflected them with the shields. This was followed with a sword fight and the one who “died” tossed out red yarn in place of blood.

This was a great way for non-knitters to discover what we already know: knitting isn’t just “old, gray-haired grandmas”. I’m not a grandma, though old enough to be one. My hair isn’t gray (but I’ve spotted a few). Take a look at my shirt. It says it all.

If you haven't, please grab a project and come hang out in our lounge. You never know what's going to happen. Maybe we can brainstorm some future contests or events. Have any ideas?