The 2022 World Heavy Metal Knitting Championship took place in Joensuu, Finland last week. And the footage from the competition looks just as ridiculous as it did in the 2019 premier. See the archived stream from 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 sometimes in this tournament.

The contest’s Facebook page explains, “In heavy metal knitting, sewing and music come together like never before. On the same stage…there is heavy metal music and knitting shaking hands. Knitting to the rhythm of heavy metal music can be compared to playing the air guitar. .”

At this year’s championship, British team String Thing beat rivals Finland and Scotland/India to win the 2022 World Heavy Metal Knitting Championship, according to Euronews.

Before a German and Swedish side pulled out late in the competition, a total of eight teams – including Australia, Finland, the UK, Scotland/India and Japan – were vying for the crown.

But the winning team put on a “surprising and energetic show”, the competition judges said. “Creativity was shown in many different forms – from costumes to space and stage use. … The show came off the stage as huge balls of yarn and the audience was included to have fun with the artist.”

After the inaugural Heavy Metal Knitting Championship in 2019, the competition did not return until a virtual tournament in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which sidelined in-person festivities the previous year. But the live knitting contest returned to Joensuu this year.

Championship organizer WTF Productions calls it “the quirk of all sports, crafts and hobbies…invented during the darkest and coldest hours of the Finnish winter in Joensuu”.

The idea for the contest 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 like a seasoned guitarist might do when produced on stage, in the style of Swedish veteran Yngwie Malmsteen.

Learn more at heavymetalknitting.com.

World Heavy Metal Knitting Championship 2022 Live Stream – July 8, 2022