Wind Knitting Factory(merelkarhof.nl)
129 points by bschne 13 hours ago | 12 comments
boffinAudio 3 minutes ago
This is a great idea .. I wonder if it can be adapted to using recycled plastic threads, so that a fleet of these could be deployed into the ocean to recover plastics, turn them into nets, and use those nets to .. recover more plastic?

If I were shipwrecked on a tropical island, I'd make it my daily task to work out how to build something like this, into which I can feed plastic bottles, and get a brand new material that could be used for more construction.

Sure, knitting scarves is neat. But knitting a weather-proof shelter? Hell yeah!

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.

arthursw 1 hour ago
Then I have to advertise the work of my father: https://oliviermasson.art/en/4-publications
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 2 hours 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 4 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 9 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
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 10 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.
nativeit 8 hours ago
He retired the format a few years ago. Now he just does game shows and random projects with his friends, which...fair enough, that's what I'd do with a pile of passive YouTube income.
tiagod 8 hours ago
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 10 hours ago
I'm disappointed it doesn't make socks.
radpanda 9 hours ago
Every HNer knows your startup needs to maintain a moat /s
12 hours ago