The World Extreme Crochet Championships sound like just about the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. Yes, I know, there are people who will think I’m being sarcastic here but I’m totally wowed by the idea of this event. Unfortunately, the real event that took place by this name isn’t nearly so cool as such an event could potentially be but I’ll give them some credit for their tongue-in-cheek fun and the fact that they’re encouraging crocheting in public.
This is an Australian event that from all indications seems to be hosted by brewing company Matilda Bay as part of their launch of a new cider called Dirty Granny. They’re hosting different rounds at various pubs in which three competitive crocheters compete against each other to crochet in “extreme” conditions such as “while snowboarding” or “underwater”. They are actually just sitting inside of prop booths decorated to look like such areas so they aren’t really doing such extreme crochet.
Nevertheless, they are crocheting in public and doing some really fun work actually. Plus the booths are covered in crochet features (like a crochet snowboard), which is neat to look at, although the competitors are just working on one beanie each (must be done in one hour) during the event. Here is one fun photo from a Melbourne round but you should check out the entire gallery:
You can see photos of the various booths (like the snowboarder at work) over at Style Wilderness where we learn that this round of the competition had three crocheters at work, two of which were men. All three people work at the same wool company and asked were to crochet coaster squares for Matilda Bay and out of that grew this idea for the extreme competition.
Apparently another round is taking place tonight (which I guess may have already happened in Australia, my time zones are always iffy) at a place called Lo-Fi Collective.