Knitting supremo John Glen's dazzling Christmas jumper proves a winner on Kirstie Allsopp TV craft show
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FAR NORTH knitting tutor John Glen has been inundated with messages from well-wishers after his dazzling Christmas jumper proved to be a hit on national TV.
John was the winning contestant in Monday's edition of Kirstie's Handmade Christmas, the Channel 4 series presented by Kirstie Allsopp, after creating a unique light-yarn seasonal sweater.
During the programme John knitted a pair of baby socks for a new grandchild due in January, but the crafters were judged on jumpers they had made in advance. John's intricate creation – featuring lace work, bead work and a graduated fade – was a labour of love that took 280 hours to complete.
The judge, knitwear designer Erika Knight, said: "They were all winners in my book because they all had something to offer. But if I had to put on one to wear on Christmas Day, that would be John's."
John (59) – who was seen on screen with little baubles dangling from his white beard – is now the proud owner of the trophy for Kirstie's knitted Christmas jumper champion.
“The reaction has been really, really positive – absolutely gorgeous," John said this week. "I’ve had amazing, encouraging messages from friends and relatives around Caithness and from knitters all over the country, and a couple internationally who have been trying to get access to All 4 [Channel 4's online platform] to watch on catch-up.
“The other contestants have been in touch as well to say it was wonderful seeing us all together on TV, and to have a nice Christmas – so that has been lovely.”
John admitted he was surprised to win. “The quality of every entry was really high," he said.
John – who is known as Beardychiel in the knitting world – made the jumper over the course of 28 days, working 10 hours a day.
“It’s a 4ply or fingering weight jumper knitted from the collar down," he explained. "It features lace work, bead work and what’s called a graduated fade in colour. That graduated fade was created especially for me.
"I did the sketch of what I wanted and I shared my sketch with one of my friends who is an indie dyer in Kirkintilloch, Jillian Thom, and she dyed the yarn for me.
“She runs an online business called Mothy and the Squid and she is one of the most amazing indie dyers that I’ve ever come across. Over the years, going to festivals and things, we’ve collaborated on a couple of projects and when I realised what I wanted for my final idea I messaged her and she said ‘I’d love to dye that for you’ and within a week the yarn was sitting in my hand ready to go.
“The colours go from the natural cream of undyed yarn to a forest green at the bottom and the yarn has a fine strand of sparkle called stellina, so it’s like having glitter in the yarn as you’re knitting it.
“People are asking if the pattern for this sweater is going to be available, so I’m trying to get the last of the editing done on the pattern so that other people can go and knit it. And there have been requests for the baby socks pattern, so I’ve pointed them to where they can get a free copy of the pattern.”
John's Granny Mac taught him to knit during his recovery from a major operation when he was 10.
He established a knitwear cottage industry under the name of Caithness Croft Yarn after health issues forced him to take early retirement from his job as depute rector of Wick High School. Originally from Glasgow, he had moved to Caithness in 1995 as a technical teacher at Thurso High School.
John hosts regular classes at Messy Nessy soft play and craft centre in Thurso, and is well known locally for his many amateur drama roles with Thurso Players.
Kirstie's Handmade Christmas was recorded in a Covid-secure setting in Devon in October and John said: “It was well worth the journey.”
Making the programme had been “an incredibly positive experience”, he said.
“I think the selection process is really quite clever because different members of the production team phone you for bits of information and just for a general chat, and obviously they’re trying to gauge how communicative is this person?
“I understood exactly why the process was structured that way. That was fine.”
John explained that the contestants didn’t get a close-up view of the "wow" moment at the end of the programme when the jumpers, which had been covered up until then, were revealed by Kirstie and judge Erika.
“You’re about 50 metres away and there’s a transparent wall between you to muffle sound, so you don’t hear what’s being said and they’re so far away that you don’t actually see the facial expressions that well – you just see that they’ve unwrapped each of them in turn,” he said.
John is also delighted to have been selected to contribute to Lyth Arts Centre's Caithness Under the Christmas Tree festive activity booklet.
“I have been really lucky," he said. "In the last few weeks I’ve had that [the TV show] as a lovely surprise and I was also one of the 12 artists that Lyth Arts Centre commissioned to work on Caithness Under the Christmas Tree."
Meanwhile, John has given an assurance that when the Christmas jumper pattern is ready it will be available at the same standard price as most of his other knitting patterns. He said: “I’m not going to suddenly hike the price because it’s the Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas jumper. That would just be unfair.”
