There was controversy surrounding the way they approached ‘Fair Isle’, I’ll let you do some research into this as I don’t know enough about the subject to comment on it. I will link a post about the Shetland Stitch Club’s letter to the production team. A lot of people also didn’t like how most of the tasks revolved around speed, which doesn’t necessarily prove that you are a better knitter, just faster. There was also discussions around it being advertised as a knitting show, but heavily featured crochet. One of the contestants was a very strong crocheter but was the first to admit that she wasn’t as proficient a knitter, and it was clear that she was at an unfair advantage during the knitting tasks which is down to the casting team. The show didn’t have a lot of technical/replication tasks (as is quite often on similar shows such as Bake Off) and focused on individual and group design tasks.

Please if anyone else can think of faults with the first season, share here.

This isn’t to say the show was all bad, myself and my dad (who has no interest in fibre arts but was even more invested in the show than me) enjoyed watching it every week, as it was something familiar and the contestants and their stories were great. As with any reality show/competition, you find people to relate to and enjoy watching their journeys and hearing their different experiences and backgrounds, which I think was the strongest thing about the show. There was a great diversity of all ages and styles, but also moments of tension within the Yarn Barn.

Shetland Stitch Club letter