|

What is Slow Knitting TV?

Sharing is caring!

Want to understand the slow knitting TV genre? Today I’m sharing what slow knitting TV is about, and how we all benefit from sharing real life knitting.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What is slow TV?

To understand slow knitting TV, first we need to understand slow TV.

Coming out of Norway, slow TV is a genre of “marathon” television coverage of an ordinary event in its complete length. It’s the uncut version of a completely average event that has a naturally slow pace.

Some examples of past slow TV programs include 12 hours of watching the building of a log fire, or 18 hours of watching salmon spawning.

What are the must haves for slow TV? There’s little to no editing, no scripting, and no voiceovers. Just the camera following something from start to finish.

Slow knitting

The slow knitting movement is all about knowing the story from start to finish of your knitting. This means shearing wool from the sheep, spinning and dyeing it, and put up into yarn.

Slow knitting is taking that yarn and using it purposefully, to create warmth and joy. It isn’t about rushing through the process or keeping up with the Joneses.

You can read the entire blog post about slow knitting here, or watch the video here.

What is slow knitting TV?

The best example from the past was back in 2016. Netflix released an 8.5 hour show called Slow TV: National Knitting Night.

People tuned in to watch a group in Norway. A sheep was shorn, wool was spun into yarn, and a sweater was knit as quickly as possible to beat a previous record. In real time, no edits. Chats with real people as it all happened. And that’s it!

Sure, there were side stories and interviews with knitters creating socks and mittens while the event happened. But they were real people knitting together, no paid actors.

Seven years later, and after searching for replays of this event or anything else like it, I took to YouTube to create my own. I have been creating the slow knitting TV videos over the past 3 years that I wish existed and were still shared today.

The way I create slow knitting TV isn’t perfect. Because of real life as a mom of 4, I don’t share projects from start to finish. There is editing because I live in a very noisy home. But I try my best to create an hour of relaxing real life knitting to be enjoyed.

This is different from the Farmhouse Knitting Podcast, where I have a podcast voiceover to what I’m knitting.

My true slow knitting TV shows are set to music and no talking. Ideally, I’d love to have some knitting needles clacking in the background, but again it’s a noisy house of 6 plus a puppy!

My ideal slow knitting TV show

If time were no object, what would be the ideal slow knitting TV to watch?

For me, I want authentic. I want real people and real stories. Full of their weird quirks and goofy mistakes. Unedited and unscripted makes for the best videos to watch for me, personally.

No crazy thrown in drama or clickbait just to spike up views.

I want to feel like I’m right there knitting with someone, or a group of knitters, like at a knit night. But instead of a snippet that’s over before you get your fill of knitting time, it goes on for hours and hours. Like the National Knitting Night that lasted over 8 hours.

Give me casting on to binding off. A real life time lapse and not a 60 second reel with obnoxious fast paced music. That’s the stuff that downplays real knitting and promotes fake, competitive knitting. It makes it into something it isn’t. Real knitting at real speeds, and take us along for the finished project, good or bad, please!

Why do we need slow knitting TV?

For starters, not many people create it. It’s hard to find content that fills our knitter souls. Now, I don’t think anyone wants slow knitting TV to become the trend, or it becomes oversaturated. We start to get bombarded with it from all directions. Too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing. Again, think Instagram reels.

But slow knitting TV done well and with the right intentions can be life-giving.

When we watch someone’s knitting process, we can let our guards down because we’re not being sold to.

How many times have you started watching or reading something and as soon as you could tell it was a sales pitch, got the heck out of there? Nobody likes being sold to, and that’s not what slow knitting TV is about. There’s only give, no take.

We need a rest for our senses

TV shows are demanding our attention and emotions. They are face paced, loud, and send you on an emotional roller coaster. Slow knitting TV is about peaceful sounds and sights. It makes you want to join in instead of being thankful you’re watching from the outside.

If you want true reality TV, look to slow knitting

Here, you can see a project through from start to finish, or at least a significant amount of the process. We’re invited into the things going well and the questions as we come to them.

The TV show is relatable

Casting on too few stitches, playing yarn chicken, all of these things happen to real knitters. Knitting isn’t always perfect and blissful, there are genuine problem solving moments. And there are plenty of joyous moments in knitting. While watching slow knitting TV, we can join in because we’ve also been there. Their triumphs are our triumphs.

Sharing slow hobbies with others is loving them well

Anytime there is an opportunity to pass down an old fashioned skill to younger generations, I’m on board. Sharing these old timey skills used to happen between families and small towns. But people spread out more than they used to, going to college across the country or taking internships in another country. Overall, we also spend less time with others face to face. Knitting projects that are real and not manufactured moments for likes and shares should be shared online, and often.

How to engage with slow knitting TV?

So how do we support and interact with the slow knitting TV shows we do see?

The first way is to watch it actively. Watch and listen to everything happening. This is a great way to learn, like during National Knitting Night. Most people, at least in the USA, aren’t even aware of the process of sheep wool to yarn. This is a great learning opportunity. It’s also the best way to fully immerse your senses.

But life can be busy. I struggle to paint my nails in the evening because I know that means saying no to knitting that night. Wet nails and wool are not friends. I opt for audiobooks more often because I can knit easier while listening. You can watch slow knitting TV as a background screensaver to whatever you’re doing. Listen to the click clack of needles while you go about your day and I bet you’ll feel better than you would listening to a TV show with ads or a vlogger sharing their new yarn haul. Remember, slow knitting isn’t about keeping up with the Joneses.

Whatever your reason and however you watch slow knitting TV, you’re probably going to feel better afterwards.

We end up feeling like we’re right there in the moment, shadowing someone’s real life and job. Getting a real dose of reality.

And an hour of that feeds the soul better than almost anything else that can be shared on our screens.

Pin It For Later:

More slow knitting resources:

Similar Posts

Hygge Magazine Round Up

Hygge Magazine Round Up

ARE YOU CRAVING A SIMPLE AND HYGGE MAGAZINE IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW? I WAS, TOO! THAT’S WHY I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU SOME STRESS-FREE FAVORITES IN MY MAILBOX TODAY. My snail mail was becoming stressful, so I unsubscribed from almost everything. I didn’t want more controversy and ads in my life, I CRAVED…