Knitting

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Knitting Made Musical with Cyberknitics

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Cyberknitics translates the action of knitting into sound.Thanks to Make, I learned about this really cool project that Teresa Lamb made for her master’s thesis called Cyberknitics. She made a leather harness a knitter can wear as they knit, which also connects to the knitter’s arm and uses circuit boards to translate the movement of knitting into sound.

Here’s what that looks (and sounds) like:

[vimeo 165971570 w=600 h=350]

This is really cool, and would be interesting as a piece of performance art, or even just knitting for yourself and listening to the sound your knitting makes. Or how about outfitting a knit night full of knitters for a knitting symphony? How cool would that be?

Here’s what she says about the project:

Cyberknitics is the study of the relationship between craft, technology, and humans. Crafting is calming, healing, communal, expressive and empowering. It fills a basic human desire that transcends its utility. My work explores what it means to be a crafter now, and what it will mean in the future.

This is really fascinating to me and I’d love to try it out myself. What about you? What do you think your knitting sounds like?

[Photo via Teresa Lamb.]

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Comments

  1. Will the sound patterns change with different movements, such as purling, yarn over, double decreases, cabling, and psso, for example?

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Apple Knitting Patterns for Fall and Back to School

It feels like it’s too early to be thinking about back to school, but as I write this my daughter has just a couple of weeks of summer left! So let’s get in that school and fall knitting spirit by looking at some apple knitting projects. 

If you have a 22 needle circular knitting machine, knitting an apple is one of the easiest things you can do. I have an apple pattern over at Our Daily Craft that will take you just a few minutes to knit and they’re a great addition to your fall decor. 

Apple hats are a classic, and whether you want to knit a hat that looks like an apple or one with apples on it, we’ve got you covered. For hats that look like apples check out the rolled brim version from Emma Crochet Design 4 U, which uses worsted weight yarn and comes in sizes for kids of all ages; and the ribbed brim version from Hand Knit Hugs. This one also calls for worsted weight yarn and comes in four kids sizes. Both include a stem and leaf. 

If you’d rather have apples on your hat, try the Red Apple Hat from Little Red Window. This one is sized from newborn to 2T and calls for four colors of worsted weight yarn. 

How about apple socks? You’ll find Ariel Chang’s Apple Picnic Socks as a free download on Ravelry. These use three colors of sock yarn and come in three sizes. Stone Knits also a pair of stripey apple socks that show the inside of the apple. These also have three sizes but they use six colors total, with the main color being a self-striping yarn. 

If you want a little apple accessory for the house, the apple potholder from Nifty Knitter Designs is cute and a great way to practice double knitting. It uses two colors and you’ll find the colors in the reverse on the other side. The pattern only uses about 50 yards of each color of worsted weight yarn, so it’s a great use for odd balls, too. 

Once you’ve got your double knitting skills sorted you can also try the double knit apple scarf from Crow and Chai Shop. The Winter Apples scarf is shown in red and gold, but you can use whatever colors you like. There are apples, stars and random stitches in the design, which calls for DK weight yarn. There’s also a matching fingerless glove pattern.