Wind Knitting Factory

(merelkarhof.nl)

123 points | by bschne 12 hours ago ago

33 comments

  • jkhalaj 10 hours ago

    Knitting is programming. Read a knitting pattern and it's low level programming - knitters do not get enough credit.

    • srean 9 hours ago

      Same with weaving, especially the way symmetry is weft in.

      Jaccard looms are too general, too unconstrained. I like shaft looms more gratifying. Their restrictions make it more interesting.

    • charcircuit 8 hours ago

      By that logic any instructions is programming and everyone on earth are programmers.

      • yjftsjthsd-h 5 hours ago

        Instructions to machines probably are. Instructions to humans aren't because humans interpret things themselves and exercise free will in execution.

        • 2muchcoffeeman 4 hours ago

          Written knitting instructions would benefit from a bit of standardisation and a system for depicting unusual stitches.

      • gbear605 5 hours ago

        I’m not sure that I’d say that it’s programming, but it is a pretty neat DSL

      • MangoToupe an hour ago

        Sure, why not?

      • y-curious 6 hours ago

        Sources say God is actually a software engineer

      • taneq 2 hours ago

        To an extent, yes (to the first part). For instance, the list of events scheduled for a performance is called a program.

  • dmkolobov 7 hours ago

    Beautiful work.

    As an off-topic observation, whenever I see something like the phrase “operates between the public and the private space” I immediately think: this person definitely went to art school :P

  • stickfigure 3 hours ago

    Oh that device should look familiar to fans of Hand Tool Rescue.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCNaHMo2EI

  • Luc 12 hours ago
  • metalman 8 hours ago

    I spent a couple of days building staircases inside a rope factory, kinda thing that I would just add a glass wall and put in a coffee shop, it's an odd thing to watch something solid materialise out of a intricate repetitive motion that happens ever so slightly faster that you can track. different rig than the wind knitter but both I think are clasified as braiders

  • MikeTheGreat 12 hours ago

    I'm curious about how you 'harvest' a section of tube without it unraveling.

    Maybe cut it around, remove the little bits of yarn, then unravel a ways on purpose, and knit the unraveled yarn through the edge like a normal bind-off?

    • MandieD 11 hours ago

      Thread a flexible needle (usually called "circular") or a wire through a full row near the cut, unravel the remaining rows, then take a fine crochet hook to chain the loops together.

      Or just hem it, but that doesn't look like what she does.

    • ethan_smith 9 hours ago

      Circular knitting typically uses a technique called "grafting" or "Kitchener stitch" to close tubes seamlessly without unraveling - you'd temporarily secure stitches on holders, cut one strand, then use a tapestry needle to mimic the path of the yarn through the live stitches.

    • imzadi 11 hours ago

      They might be sergering the edges.

  • 11 hours ago
    [deleted]
  • data-ottawa 9 hours ago

    This is delightfully weird, I love projects like this.

  • socki 9 hours ago

    Is this something that can be seen in person?

  • gcanyon 9 hours ago

    I'm very disappointed there doesn't appear to be a Tom Scott video on this.

    • burnt-resistor 9 hours ago

      This! That would be awesomesauce. I haven't seen his videos in a while.

  • MikeTheGreat 12 hours ago

    Is anyone else disappointed that you can't buy the wind-knitting device itself, only scarves knitted from the device? :)

    • imzadi 11 hours ago

      I doubt it would be difficult to make. You can buy the knitting machine on amazon. They usually have a handle you can crank unless it is electric. Just attach a turbine to the handle.

      • rkagerer 9 hours ago

        I missed the (obvious) context and imagined an aircraft engine turbine attached.

    • ashurov 11 hours ago

      you could, but the (original) website is from 2009...so probably not enough interest to keep that up. The old link is dead: https://windknittingfactory.bigcartel.com/

    • c22 9 hours ago

      I'm disappointed it doesn't make socks.

    • radpanda 8 hours ago

      Every HNer knows your startup needs to maintain a moat /s

    • 12 hours ago
      [deleted]