Knit one, purl one, rock on. Metal meets wool in Finland

Armed with needles and a yarn of wool, teams of avid knitters competed to the deafening sounds of drums beating and guitars slashing at the Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship in eastern Finland on Friday.

With stage names such as The Knitwitches (Finland), KnitiotSavant (USA) and Venomwool (UK), the participants shared a simple goal: to showcase their knitting skills while dancing to heavy metal music in the most outlandish way possible.

This is the festival's second edition, and due to the coronavirus pandemic, was still largely held online, with video performances submitted online, but broadcast worldwide on various platforms to an eclectic group of fans and the judges.

"It was a harsh decision, but it had to be done because of the restrictions and of course people's health – that's really important to us," explained Lina Ihanamaeki, one of the founders of the event.

Instead of live-performances on stage, contestants had to record their own short music video set to heavy metal music.

Resurrection of the Knitting Witch from the Netherlands came out on top with their stop motion inspired black metal video, described by the judges as "soulful and touching".

A niche musical genre in many countries, heavy metal is more mainstream in Finland, with several bands household names and songs frequently played on the radio. Its popularity grew further in 2006 when the Finnish band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest dressed as monsters.

Today, Finland has the highest number of heavy metal bands per capita in the world with over 50 bands per 100,000 people. Even former U.S. President Barack Obama commented on this rich tradition while welcoming his Finnish counterpart to the White House in 2016.

While combining heavy metal music with knitting might not seem an obvious match, the organizers say it's similar to other unusual events in Finland, such as world championships in air guitar, swamp soccer, and wife carrying — Finnish ways of goofing around and making the most of the long summer nights in these northern latitudes.

Friday's competition saw participants from eight countries, including the United States, Japan, and Russia, put on inspired performances full of theatrics, passion and drama.

The team behind the event plans to be back next summer – then without pandemic restrictions and with a real live on stage event.