On the second day of Knit Madness, 93 people voted on Google Form with some Bluesky polls getting up to 24 additional votes for some head-to-heads. And while we’ve got some upsets (including a recent viral knit falling in Round 1), one of these matchups was such a nail-biter that the outcome came to a single vote.

And in case you missed it, I got published in Roger Ebert earlier this week!

You can find a detailed rundown of Knit Madness here.

Ready for today’s matchups? Get started with Google Forms, and/or make your way through the Bluesky polls, which you can find below.

Voting will close on Saturday, March 7, two days from now.

The Sweater: A gray-ish-blue sweater with a baseball game depicted with red, blue, green, white, and brown yarn.

Who Wore It: Same Malone (Ted Danson), the owner and bartender of Cheers’ titular bar.

Replica: No

Notes: My impression is that Sam Malone wears a ton of sweaters throughout the series, but I picked this one well before learning about his past as a Red Sox relief pitcher.

The Sweater: A blue mohair ombre cardigan

Who Wore It: Harry Styles Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the frontman for the British boyband August Moon

Replica: No

Notes: One of my great achievements of being a person who writes about movie sweaters is seeing this number pop up in The Idea of You, clocking it being mohair, and being proven days later once an interview with the film’s costume designer went up.

The Sweater: A red, blue, green, and yellow sweater vest with yellow bears near the top

Who Wore It: Rose Nylund (Betty White), one of the Golden Girls’ magical quartet.

Replica: No

Notes: This show really nailed the 80s vintage fashion vibe.

The Sweater: A floor-length red loop sleeveless cardigan

Who Wore It: Tom Daley, the former English Olympic diver who learned to knit and crochet during COVID and made it a big part of his brand.

Replica: No

Notes: I have way more thoughts on the British reality show Game of Wool (which I didn’t think was very good) than this portion of the bracket matchup really allows—I might do a future newsletter on it once the tournament’s over—but Daley’s weekly outfits were always a highlight.

The Sweater: Two very threadbare and fraying sweaters, one in a dark gray, the other in a light gray

Who Wore It: Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), humans fighting against the machines.

Replica: Yes [Update, March 5: The official version of Neo’s sweater was designed by Suss Cousins, who published the pattern as part of the knitting book Hollywood Knits: Thirty Original Suss Designs (which you can borrow via the Internet Archive or purchase at your used bookseller of choice). Thanks for sending that my way, Michaela!]

Notes: I interviewed costume designer Janty Yates a few years back about Adam Driver’s sweater in House of Gucci¹ and I always loved how she thought about the ubiquity of sweaters in any genre of film (even sci-fi):

The Sweater: A white sweater vest with metal-like gold stars attached that's worn over a white sweater

Who Wore It: Claire Sardina aka "Thunder" (Kate Hudson), one-half of Song Sung Blue’s Neil Diamond tribute band

Replica: No

Notes: A sweater on a sweater. Stunning.

The Sweater: A red, blue, yellow, brown, and white sweater. The top third is crocheted, while the bottom two-thirds are knitted

Who Wore It: Paris Geller (Liza Weil), who has somehow not strangled Rory Gilmore by now

Replica: Yes

Notes: Fuck yeah crochet rep!

The Sweater: A black v-neck sweater with white trim at the collar and criss-crossed white hands stitched on top

Who Wore It: Jessica "Jess" Bradford (Olivia Hussey), one of the early examples of the Final Girl

Replica: No

Notes: If jazz hands were a sweater.

The Sweater: A neon green turtleneck sweater with darker (but still bright) green stripes running vertically

Who Wore It: Incidental 37A (Dee Bradley Baker), who just wants a Krabby Patty and is serenaded instead.

Replica: No

Notes: What other sweater in this bracket can say it’s the muse of an actual song?

The Sweater: A bright pink mohair turtleneck sweater

Who Wore It: Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever), the wellness guru who lied to the world about having cancer (and lied about a bunch of other things)

Replica: No

Notes: This is technically a recreation of a sweater that the real Gibson actually wore during an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, but since it appears in a TV show as well, I’ll allow it. (By this logic, Princess Diana’s famous Warm & Wonderful black sheep sweater that showed up in The Crown season 4 can also compete in a future Knit Madness.)

The Sweater: A light gray textured zipper cardigan

Who Wore It: Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), who, as he’ll remind you plenty, did not kill his wife.

Replica: No

Notes: Not a bad get-up for a man on the run.

The Sweater: A green, red, and yellow Fair Isle sweater

Who Wore It: Charles Heath (Tim Key), a two-time lottery winner and widower who uses his wealth for good—aka enticing the estranged Civil Wars-coded folk duo to travel to to the small Welsh island he calls home and reunite long enough to perform a private concert for him for a buttload of money.

Replica: No

Notes: There are so many good sweaters, this and the whale cardigan are only scratching the surface.

The Sweater: A white twisted cable turtleneck sweater with a red, black, and white yoke

Who Wore It: Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a FedEx analyst who experiences the world’s worst work trip.

Replica: No

Notes: This sweater could technically compete in several of the categories, but I placed it here for the yoke and the texture of super-wet wool if you want to get particular.

The Sweater: A white sweater with a green, yellow, blue, and pink zig-zag yoke (and each color getting its own section)

Who Wore It: Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), a lesbian romantasy author who might be humanity’s last hope against a mysterious yet welcoming hive mind.

Replica: No

Notes: There isn’t a pattern for Carol’s Alps breakup sweater just yet, but you can buy it on Amazon. Which, given how quickly clothes featured on TV can sell out, isn’t nothing.

The Sweater: A light gray sweater with a cat's face depicted in black

Who Wore It: Bella Faulkner (Rima Te Wiata), who takes a young Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) into her home.

Replica: Yes

Notes: I haven’t seen Hunt for the Wilderpeople in years, so I initially didn’t remember this sweater or Bella being a big part of the movie. Then I looked up the film and quickly remembered why.

The Sweater: A green zig-zag turtleneck sweater

Who Wore It: Helen Alderson (Rachel Shenton), who might not be a veterinarian but knows her way around farm animals

Replica: No

Notes: I never got around to this show or got to witness the central romance Helen is part of, but it looks very cute!

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