Knit Madness Day 2: Textured/Miscellaneous

Thank you so much for helping the first day of Knit Madness go off (mostly) without a hitch! I’m still figuring out how to finagle polls through the poll.blue app through Bluesky, but from what I can tell, if it doesn’t register your vote the first time (you have to click on the title/option, not the results, to vote), keep trying!

Recap: Day 1, Cables

These are the contenders heading to the Round of 32! While there are some expected victories, one top contender—Titanic, the highest-grossing film on the list—has fallen to no. 15’s Derry Girls! And a couple of these matchups were only decided by two votes.

• Matchup: (1) Knives Out (82.4%) vs (16) Friday the 13th (17.6%)

• Matchup: (2) Titanic (36.8%) vs (15) Derry Girls (63.2%)

• Matchup: (3) When Harry Met Sally… (60%) vs (14) The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) (40%)

• Matchup: (4) Firefly (68%) vs (13) Let’s Make Love (32%)

• Matchup: (5) Gilmore Girls (54.2%) vs (12) Local Hero (45.8%)

• Matchup: (6) Star Trek: Picard (61.9%) vs (11) Anatomy of a Fall (38.1%)

• Matchup: (7) The Devil Wears Prada (45.5%) vs (10) Love Story (1970) (54.5%)

• Matchup: (8) House of Gucci (16.7%) vs (9) The Mandalorian (83.3%)

You can find a detailed rundown of Knit Madness here.

Today’s Matchups

Matchup: (1) The Nanny vs (16) Empire Records

(1) The Nanny (2×20, “Lamb Chop’s On the Menu”)

The Sweater: A striped rainbow mohair sweater that will brighten up any New York City home.

Who Wore It: Fran Fine (Fran Drescher), Flushing, Queens’ finest nanny.

Replica: Yes

Notes: Perhaps the brightest entry in this entire bracket.

(16) Empire Records

The Sweater: A light blue v-neck crop top.

Who Wore It: Corey Mason (Liv Tyler), one of the many employees working at the independent record store Empire Records.

Replica: No

Notes: The sweater is front and center on all of Empire Records’ posters.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (2) Coraline vs (15) The Way We Were

(2) Coraline

The Sweater: A dark blue sweater with silver stars.

Who Wore It: Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), the extremely precocious (and titular) 10-year-old who discovers another world parallel to her own inside her house.

Replica: Yes

Notes: A previous pick for Knitwear of the Week, which I expanded on at Reactor Mag last year. Hand-knitted with what feels like the world’s tiniest needles.

(15) The Way We Were

The Sweater: A white turtleneck sweater covered in small divots.

Who Wore It: Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford), a WASP who falls in love with a Marxist Jewish woman (Barbra Streisand) as they sporadically appear in each other’s lives over several decades.

Replica: No

Notes: This is one of the more viral photos I’ve seen around the internet, as well as one of the older films on this list.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (3) Only Murders in the Building season 1 vs (14) The Santa Clause

(3) Only Murders in the Building (1×02, “Who Is Tim Kono?”)

The Sweater: A fluffy gray and rainbow-color striped pullover.

Who Wore It: Artist, podcaster, sleuth, and knitter Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), who lives in a building with an unusual abundance of murders.

Replica: Yes

Notes: A TV show I’ve seen very little of (it’s on my list) that spoils its viewers with Great Sweaters. This particular sweater only appears to be in the episode for a few minutes, which seems like a waste of a good sweater.

(14) The Santa Clause

The Sweater: A multicolored Coogi (or at least Coogi-inspired) sweater

Who Wore It: Dr. Neal Miller (Judge Reinhold), who married a single mom (Wendy Crewson), became stepfather to her son (Eric Lloyd), and who definitely didn’t sign up for his wife’s ex-husband (Tim Allen) becoming Santa Claus¹ .

Replica: No

Notes: You might think that Neal’s sweater is pure ‘90s vintage, but nope, the Australian clothing brand is still very much around!

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (4) The Wrong Trousers vs (13) A Fish Called Wanda

(4) The Wrong Trousers

The Sweater: A green sweater vest (only one of an entire wardrobe’s worth).

Who Wore It: Wallace (Peter Wallis), the Yorkshire-accented inventor (and lover of cheese) and one-half of the English duo Wallace and Gromit

Replica: No

Notes: It’s technically the second Wallace and Gromit short film (but it’s the most famous because of its iconic train chase sequence), so think of this more as an acknowledgment of the entire Wallace and Gromit franchise. The likely recipient of several hand-knitted items from his Very Good Dog Gromit.

(13) A Fish Called Wanda

The Sweater: A bright pink mohair cardigan.

Who Wore It: Con artist Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis), who’s attempting to retrieve stolen diamonds after a heist (and seduces a barrister during that mission).

Replica: No

Notes: Some questionable fashion choices between knitwear and the outfit underneath tbh.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (5) Home Alone vs (12) While You Were Sleeping

(5) Home Alone

The Sweater: A child-friendly—but not Wet Bandits-friendly—red sweater with a yellow shirt underneath.

Who Wore It: Perpetually left-home Chicagoan Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin).

Replica: No

Notes: While this sweater doesn’t have a replica pattern, several other pieces from the film—such as a white cabled sweater and a white hat with red reindeer on it—do.

(12) While You Were Sleeping

The Sweater: A light gray oversized sweater with massive sleeves.

Who Wore It: Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock), a Chicago fare token collector who falls for one man, saves him, and then falls for his brother after lying to his family by telling them she’s the first brother’s fiancée.

Replica: No

Notes: On my list for possible future Knitwear of the Week entries. Extremely cozy-looking.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (6) No Time to Die vs (11) Penny Dreadful season 2

(6) No Time to Die

The Sweater: A ribbed navy sweater with a drawstring around the neck and black shoulder pads.

Who Wore It: James Bond (Daniel Craig) on his final Broccoli-owned outing.

Replica: Not a pattern, but you can purchase your own if you have a spare $500 lying around.

Notes: Debatably one of Craig’s hottest looks. And yes, I’ve seen all of his Bond movies.

(11) Penny Dreadful (2×07, “Little Scorpion”)

The Sweater: An olive green sweater with a slightly unbuttoned collar.

Who Wore It: American gunman and roadshow artist Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), who’s often surrounded by characters from 19th-century Victorian Gothic fiction.

Replica: Yes

Notes: For those who think the Josh Hartissance started with Oppenheimer, Penny Dreadful very much argues otherwise—and convincingly, at least from this one photo.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (7) My So-Called Life season 1 vs (10) Bonnie and Clyde

(7) My So-Called Life (at least five episodes including 1×07, “Why Jordan Can’t Read”)

The Sweater: It’s two sweaters in one: A white tank top sweater and a striped long-sleeved sweater worn underneath.

Who Wore It: Suburban teenager Angela Chase (Claire Danes)

Replica: No

Notes: Angela’s favorite sweater, according to My So-Called Life costume designer Patrick R. Norris; it showed up in at least five of the show’s 19 episodes.

(10) Bonnie and Clyde

The Sweater: A light yellow short-sleeved ribbed and cabled sweater.

Who Wore It: Infamous bank robber Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway)

Replica: Yes, but the pattern is no longer available to purchase on its own. You might be able to get it as part of a collection of famous movie sweater patterns, but I don’t have the means to independently verify that.

Notes: It’s hard to top this one.

Who has the better sweater?

Matchup: (8) Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 3 vs (9) The Wheel of Time season 1

(8) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3×16, “Doppelgangland”)

The Sweater: A fuzzy pink v-neck sweater adorned with daisies and assorted patches.

Who Wore It: The nerdy and shy teen witch Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan)

Replica: No

Notes: Even with that one sweater in The Santa Clause in this same division, this is the most ‘90s sweater to ever ‘90s.

(9) The Wheel of Time (1×01, “Leavetaking”)

The Sweater: A fuzzy, striped light blue sweater.

Who Wore It: A very naive—and pre-Dragon Reborn—Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski)

Replica: Yes

Notes: Previous Knitwear of the Week recipient. And one of the few characters in the entire tournament wearing career-appropriate attire: Before he leaves the village he calls home, he and his father are sheepherders.

Who has the better sweater?

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1  I watched The Santa Clause a lot as a kid, and yes, the plot is kind of wild. What’s even wilder is that this movie sparked two feature-length sequels and an entire multi-season TV show.