Knitting Enriches TV Viewing Experience

There is a thrill knitters get when settling down with a cup of tea/coffee/wine/beer and their most recent project to watch their favorite show on TV. What is even more thrilling is when, on that show, they witness a character in knitwear. The project they had been working on goes to the back-burner as the knitter hunts for a pattern that resembles as closely as possible what they saw their favorite character wearing.

BBC’s Sherlock has garnered the most recent following of devoted knitters. Dr. John Watson’s inspiring sweaters not only have their own wikia.com page, there is a knit-along group on the popular knitting website, Ravelry.com, for Dr. Watson’s Christmas sweater. The jumper (the British term equivalent to the American word “sweater”), which was worn in the episode “A Scandal In Belgravia,” is a hand-knit navy blue with red and white fair isle, knit top-down "using pattern 7806A from ‘Reynolds New Icelandic patterns’ (vol. 78)" (wearsherlock.tumblr.com).

While fans without the ability to knit can easily go online and buy a replica of what they have seen, such as the infamous knit Jayne hat of Joss Whedon’s Firefly, knitters are able put their skill to use to accentuate the viewing experience.

Dr. John Watson wearing his Christmas jumper. (Photo from KnitYorkCity.com)