The reason is that the scarves in the online shop look very tight and possibly created by something else. There is nothing that would prevent the seller from doing this legitimately if that is the case, because Wind Knitting Factory may just be the brand.
I’d like to think the scarves in their online shop are fully knitted by the wind, though.
pamby · 37m ago
“Every scarf gets a label which tells you the time and the date on which the wind made the scarf.”
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 · 5h ago
Oh that device should look familiar to fans of Hand Tool Rescue.
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!
jnovacho · 51m ago
To recycle plastic, the only viable way is to melt it. And the plastic must be very clean before it can be remelted. If it even is a kind of plastic that can be reheated multiple times. I am afraid the short answer is no.
boffinAudio · 23m ago
In the context of ocean plastic recovery/harvesting, I don't know that the purity is all that important - the more important factor is, collection. Being able to take plastic bottles and turn them into a kind of string, for example, seems more viable - if a hopper could be designed which takes a plastic bottle, rotates it around a stripping knife, and the output is a long twine - this could then be fed into the knitting machine.
I imagine this rube-goldberg'esque strandebeest-like contraption sitting out there harvesting wind and waves, slowly turning every bottle it gorges on into a finely woven matte of materials .. maybe even reproducing itself, who knows ..
EDIT: I asked Grok to design a self-replicating ocean weaver, and I have to say .. it seems like a viable idea to me. Perhaps we will see this kind of plastic harvesting in the near future .. at the very least, were I to be stranded on a plastic-laden island, I'm pretty sure I could work out a way to build a raft with sails ..
metalman · 10h 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 · 13h 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?
bregma · 9m ago
Take a look at the next T-shirt you put on. Or socks.
MandieD · 12h 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 · 10h 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 · 12h ago
They might be sergering the edges.
data-ottawa · 10h ago
This is delightfully weird, I love projects like this.
jkhalaj · 12h ago
Knitting is programming. Read a knitting pattern and it's low level programming - knitters do not get enough credit.
srean · 10h 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.
To an extent, yes (to the first part). For instance, the list of events scheduled for a performance is called a program.
socki · 10h ago
Is this something that can be seen in person?
gcanyon · 11h ago
I'm very disappointed there doesn't appear to be a Tom Scott video on this.
burnt-resistor · 10h ago
This! That would be awesomesauce. I haven't seen his videos in a while.
nativeit · 9h 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.
Is anyone else disappointed that you can't buy the wind-knitting device itself, only scarves knitted from the device? :)
imzadi · 12h 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 · 10h ago
I missed the (obvious) context and imagined an aircraft engine turbine attached.
The reason is that the scarves in the online shop look very tight and possibly created by something else. There is nothing that would prevent the seller from doing this legitimately if that is the case, because Wind Knitting Factory may just be the brand.
I’d like to think the scarves in their online shop are fully knitted by the wind, though.
I think it’s real.
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCNaHMo2EI
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!
I imagine this rube-goldberg'esque strandebeest-like contraption sitting out there harvesting wind and waves, slowly turning every bottle it gorges on into a finely woven matte of materials .. maybe even reproducing itself, who knows ..
EDIT: I asked Grok to design a self-replicating ocean weaver, and I have to say .. it seems like a viable idea to me. Perhaps we will see this kind of plastic harvesting in the near future .. at the very least, were I to be stranded on a plastic-laden island, I'm pretty sure I could work out a way to build a raft with sails ..
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?
Or just hem it, but that doesn't look like what she does.
Jaccard looms are too general, too unconstrained. I like shaft looms more gratifying. Their restrictions make it more interesting.
It is from some summary of your dad's book that I had understood how shaft looms work.
Such beautiful weaves and such a small world. Happy meeting you here.
A reissue of your dad's book would be wonderful.