And so the mighty Dr. John Watson has fallen. Or, at least his cable-knit sweater has, making it the first no. 1 ranked sweater to get kicked out of Knit Madness.

Overall, it was rough for the higher-ranked sweaters of the Cables division: Of the four matchups from Day 5, all but one of the lower-ranked sweaters edged out the higher number—and for the most part, it was by a lot.

What will Day 6’s matchups bring?

Additional business: If you are a fan of Murder, She Wrote (the winner of last year’s Knit Madness), I’m officially soliciting episodes to watch as part of my deep-dive on the series and its many, many wonderful sweaters over at r/jbfletchersweaters if you want in on that. Additionally, you can leave a comment below or email me!

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 Friday, March 13, two days from now.

The Sweater: A brown and white Cowichan cardigan

Who Wore It: Margaret "The Log Lady" Lanterman (Catherine E. Coulson), one of the many quirky but extremely perceptive residents of Twin Peaks, Washington.

Replica: Yes (and yes) [I’m including two versions of the cardigan because I found both a fan-made version and a vintage Mary Maxim pattern, but it only got one allotment of the 10-point bonus per the rules.]

Notes: Twin Peaks is a spoil of riches in its knitwear, so it was a lot more difficult than you’d think to narrow it down; early in the process, I actually had a different Twin Peaks knit but I left it out this year because I needed to fill a cardigan spot. But I think I’m happy with where I landed.

Previously Defeated: (16) A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

The Sweater: A red, white, and blue holiday-themed Fair Isle sweater

Who Wore It: Nurse Morgan Tookers (Ike Barinholtz), who went all out for the Christmas party.

Replica: No

Notes: I know Barinholtz more from The Studio these days, but it’s still good to see him on the list.

Previously Defeated: (8) Step Brothers

The Sweater: Two sweaters: One is green with a Black Santa face on it (bearded and with the red hat). The other is a red and white holiday-themed Fair-Isle sweater with reindeer on it

Who Wore It: Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) and Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), Greendale Community College classmates, best buds, roommates , and the heart and soul of Community.

Replica: No (and no)

Notes: Fitting they took down Pierce first.

Previously Defeated: (13) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

The Sweater: A burgundy, yellow, beige, blue, pink, and green checkered buttoned cardigan. The trim where the buttons are is also burgundy.

Who Wore It: Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who goes out of his way to make two young Missionaries’ lives hell.

Replica: No

Notes: If cardigan so cozy and welcoming, why so dastardly?

Previously Defeated: (5) The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The Sweater: A mesh white cardigan that allows you to see exactly what's underneath (a striped and buttoned long-sleeve shirt)

Who Wore It: Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton), a resident of the Arconia who often tries to help his neighbors investigate whichever murder occurred in his building that season—as well as a fierce animal lover.

Replica: No

Notes: Notably the sluttiest cardigan in Howard’s collection, according to fellow Arconian Uma Heller (Jackie Hoffman). And it’s the main reason I made the “you can repeat the show as long as it’s a different sweater” rule.

Previously Defeated: (10) Arrow

The Sweater: A green, white, and black Aztec cardigan

Who Wore It: Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall), a writer who recorded her friend Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) recounting what happened to him the day before in 1974.

Replica: No

Notes: I was so unprepared for Linda Rosenkrantz’s sweater making it to Round 2 that I had to ask my friend Sam (a literal queen) to pull up the film on the Criterion Channel—where it’s streaming right now—and screenshot as many angles of it as possible since I don’t have that streaming platform anymore so I could add new angles of Linda’s cardigan for this round (and possibly future rounds). But if nothing else, run, don’t walk, to Criterion Channel to watch Peter Hujar’s Day.

Previously Defeated: (2) Wicked: For Good in the tournament’s first true upset.

The Sweater: A white cardigan. The front features two wolf heads (depicted with reddish-brown yarn) on the sides, with two full-bodied wolves on the back

Who Wore It: Dr. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a teacher (and former molecular biologist) who becomes the world’s most unlikely candidate to save humanity.

Replica: Yes—but you can also see it in-person at AMC Lincoln Square

Notes: The ultimate “inside you there are two wolves” sweater. Also, the review embargo for Project Hail Mary has lifted (as has the temporary block on showing Letterboxd star ratings), so based on early numbers, this cardigan received around the same score as Community. That’s even before the box office score (still tbd) kicks in.

Previously Defeated: (6) Ugly Betty

The Sweater: A bumpy brown cardigan

Who Wore It: Gillian "Gilly" Owens (Nicole Kidman), whose abusive ex-boyfriend causes even more problems dead than alive.

Replica: No

Notes: I’m iffy on the Practical Magic legacyquel coming out later this year—legacyquels, by and large, are way too referential to the original and usually suck—but the original is far more fun than the Metacritic score would have you think.

Previously Defeated: (3) The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

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