Cool Knitting Tricks: A Brain Wave Scarf

Talk about a personalized project. NeuroKnitting is a company that uses an EEG headset and records brain activity while a person listens to portions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, then takes the resulting activity and incorporates the brain waves into a machine-knit scarf.

Check out the video for more on how its done (and a pretty pairing of Bach and machine knitting).

According to the company’s website:

The knitted garments picture the listener’s affective and cognitive states during the experiment. It is a way of making tangible the implicit the states of users and visualizing them in an original way as a large and personal data footprint.
Neuro Knitting represents a novel way of personal, generative design and fabrication. An approach that brings together affective computing and digital crafts. And thus, it offers new applications and creative thinking to both areas.

The project was a collaboration between artists Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet and phD candidate Sebastian Mealla, whose research focuses on “possible uses of brain and body signals for multimodal interaction.” Not sure what that means, but isn’t this project cool?

[Photo via VisualNews.com.]

Oh, this one has proper old-Hollywood winter charm.

The Pembroke Coat is a vintage knitted coat pattern that instantly made me think of crisp winter walks, leather gloves, polished boots, and the sort of coat your grandmother would have casually worn while looking impossibly elegant. It has that beautiful longline shape, a classic collar, button front, sleeve tabs, pockets, and a smart plaid-style design that gives it such a tailored finish.

This is not a quick “knit it while watching one movie” sort of project — and honestly, that is part of the appeal. The Pembroke Coat is one for knitters who love a satisfying vintage knitting pattern with a proper garment construction feel. The updated PDF includes the original vintage reference image along with a modern mockup, which makes it much easier to picture how this coat could look in today’s wardrobe.

I especially love that this pattern still feels wearable. Made in grey, camel, forest green, burgundy, or navy, it would be a gorgeous handmade winter coat with that timeless “where did you get that?” look.

As with most vintage patterns, I’d recommend reading through the instructions first, checking your gauge carefully, and being prepared to make small adjustments for fit and modern yarn substitutions. But for confident knitters who enjoy heirloom-style projects, this is a really lovely one to add to the queue.

You can find the Vintage Knitted Coat Pattern PDF in the CraftGossipStore on Etsy.

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