[HN Gopher] Wind Knitting Factory
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Wind Knitting Factory
Author : bschne
Score : 260 points
Date : 2025-07-03 20:28 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.merelkarhof.nl)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.merelkarhof.nl)
| MikeTheGreat wrote:
| Is anyone else disappointed that you can't buy the wind-knitting
| device itself, only scarves knitted from the device? :)
| ashurov wrote:
| 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/
| imzadi wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| I missed the (obvious) context and imagined an aircraft
| engine turbine attached.
| voidUpdate wrote:
| High speed scarf-making!
| c22 wrote:
| I'm disappointed it doesn't make socks.
| radpanda wrote:
| Every HNer knows your startup needs to maintain a moat /s
| mhb wrote:
| I'd be surprised/impressed if the knitting machine itself was a
| DIY project.
|
| I know this is art, but to be overly reductive, it's the same
| as buying your electricity from a wind farm and using it to
| power your knitting machine.
| MikeTheGreat wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| imzadi wrote:
| They might be sergering the edges.
| ethan_smith wrote:
| 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.
| bregma wrote:
| Take a look at the next T-shirt you put on. Or socks.
| MikeTheGreat wrote:
| Can I ask you to expand on this?
|
| I've never worn knit socks, and I don't think I've ever seen
| a knit T-shirt, so I'm not quite sure what to look for (or
| at) :)
| Wingman4l7 wrote:
| You've likely worn knit socks and T-shirts -- they're
| _machine_ -knit. A lot of clothing is knit, not woven.
| Fabric does not have to use big and chunky threads to be
| knit; the loops can be quite a small gauge in size.
| MikeTheGreat wrote:
| Ah - that makes sense.
|
| I was thinking of hand-knit clothing, which (as you say)
| tends to be big enough and chunky enough that you can see
| the stitches.
|
| TIL - thanks :)
| mrob wrote:
| I don't think I've ever seen socks or T-shirts that weren't
| (machine) knitted. Knitting produces more stretchy fabric
| than weaving so it's better for garments that fit closely.
| Luc wrote:
| Most recent archive of the website:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20250614200747/https://www.merel...
| jkhalaj wrote:
| Knitting is programming. Read a knitting pattern and it's low
| level programming - knitters do not get enough credit.
| srean wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Then I have to advertise the work of my father:
| https://oliviermasson.art/en/4-publications
| srean wrote:
| Oh WOW.
|
| 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.
| charcircuit wrote:
| By that logic any instructions is programming and everyone on
| earth are programmers.
| y-curious wrote:
| Sources say God is actually a software engineer
| danielrico wrote:
| https://xkcd.com/224
| gbear605 wrote:
| I'm not sure that I'd say that it's programming, but it is a
| pretty neat DSL
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Instructions to machines probably are. Instructions to humans
| aren't because humans interpret things themselves and
| exercise free will in execution.
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| Written knitting instructions would benefit from a bit of
| standardisation and a system for depicting unusual
| stitches.
| taneq wrote:
| To an extent, yes (to the first part). For instance, the list
| of events scheduled for a performance is called a program.
| MangoToupe wrote:
| Sure, why not?
| dang wrote:
| Maybe the closest match to the current thread:
|
| _Tempus Nectit Knitting Clock_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35882735 - May 2023 (10
| comments)
|
| Other related links (did I miss any?):
|
| _Consider Knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44143199 - May 2025 (143
| comments)
|
| _Algebraic Semantics for Machine Knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43763614 - April 2025 (20
| comments)
|
| _Vanishing Culture: Punch Card Knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43024540 - Feb 2025 (25
| comments)
|
| _Semantics and scheduling for machine knitting compilers
| (2023)_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40828754 - June
| 2024 (17 comments)
|
| _Unraveling the physics of knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40683130 - June 2024 (15
| comments)
|
| _Show HN: Browser-based knitting (pattern) software_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40307089 - May 2024 (29
| comments)
|
| _A WWII spy who hid codes in her knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35613247 - April 2023 (78
| comments)
|
| _Using the Silver Reed SK840 Knitting Machine_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32897255 - Sept 2022 (19
| comments)
|
| _Enabling Personal Computational Handweaving with a Low-Cost
| Jacquard Loom_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27423963
| - June 2021 (6 comments)
|
| _Is Knitting Turing Complete? (2013)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25715534 - Jan 2021 (1
| comment)
|
| _'Knitting Is Coding' and Yarn Is Programmable in This Physics
| Lab_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19950589 - May 2019
| (62 comments)
|
| _Woven silk prayer book created with punch cards on Jacquard
| loom_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19252561 - Feb
| 2019 (1 comment)
|
| _Automatic Machine Knitting of 3D Meshes_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16536153 - March 2018 (36
| comments)
|
| _Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14538038 - June 2017 (12
| comments)
|
| _A Compiler for 3D Machine Knitting_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12143482 - July 2016 (20
| comments)
|
| _Nintendo Almost Made a Knitting Add-On for NES_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4472337 - Sept 2012 (22
| comments)
|
| _Knitting as programming_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3986758 - May 2012 (12
| comments)
|
| _Simulated Knitting in Python_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3329533 - Dec 2011 (7
| comments)
|
| _Knitting is an Acceptable Lisp_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=484292 - Feb 2009 (6
| comments)
|
| ---
|
| plus the related topic of Jacquard looms:
|
| _How an 1803 Jacquard Loom Led to Computer Technology [video]_
| - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41052908 - July 2024 (5
| comments)
|
| _Manual on Jacquard Hand Loom Weaver (Frame Loom) (2007)
| [pdf]_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23904850 - July
| 2020 (2 comments)
|
| _The Jacquard Loom: A Driver of the Industrial Revolution
| (2016)_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18261993 - Oct
| 2018 (4 comments)
|
| _Jacquard Loom: Early Computer Programing (2011) [video]_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9993953 - Aug 2015 (9
| comments)
|
| _Jacquard Loom_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8479430
| - Oct 2014 (15 comments)
|
| _Programming Jacquard 's loom (1801)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=691175 - July 2009 (2
| comments)
| srean wrote:
| Thanks so much for killing my next couple of days :)
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?q=weaving
|
| For some more. Not all are related to fabrics.
| Cordiali wrote:
| If you happen to be there and like this sort of thing, the lace
| museum in Calais is definitely worth a visit:
|
| Cite de la Dentelle et de la Mode https://www.cite-
| dentelle.fr/en/
|
| It's been about fifteen years since I visited, but they had a
| big section on the evolution of the techniques. It started from
| hand lace making, then progressed through periods of different
| looms. From memory, I'm pretty sure they had a punch-card loom
| about 200 years old, that was actually operating while I was
| there.
| gcanyon wrote:
| I'm very disappointed there doesn't appear to be a Tom Scott
| video on this.
| burnt-resistor wrote:
| This! That would be awesomesauce. I haven't seen his videos in
| a while.
| tiagod wrote:
| He retired: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DKv5H5Frt0
| nativeit wrote:
| 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.
| voidUpdate wrote:
| He recently put out a video asking for new submissions,
| however they are uk only, and AFAIK this is in the
| netherlands, sadly
| Pyrodogg wrote:
| He recently did one of those "this video will delete in X
| hours" bits where he asked people to email him different
| places, people, things to check out.
|
| He very, very clearly has no interest in returning to
| weekly videos on-location; more deeper dives or just
| something different.
| socki wrote:
| Is this something that can be seen in person?
| data-ottawa wrote:
| This is delightfully weird, I love projects like this.
| metalman wrote:
| 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
| dmkolobov wrote:
| 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
| ragazzina wrote:
| I'm surprised it doesn't also operate at the intersection of
| art and technology.
| asimovfan wrote:
| boundary betweeen public and private space is an elementary
| object of social studies in general
| myself248 wrote:
| International Art English is a well-documented, and mercilessly
| mocked (and deservedly so!) phenomenon, which thrusts the
| creator's image of self into the spotlight and questions
| assumptions about their ability for self-expression at the
| intersection of rational thought and plain language, through
| pervasive use of meaningless and tortured constructions, abject
| puffery, and run-on sentences.
| stickfigure wrote:
| Oh that device should look familiar to fans of Hand Tool Rescue.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCNaHMo2EI
| boffinAudio wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 ..
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| There's some (fairly simple) devices in use or that you can
| make yourself to turn bottles into a kind of thread, but
| it's very hard to automate because bottles will be
| different in shape and condition.
|
| But as you say, turning them into something else isn't the
| critical part, collecting them in the first place is. The
| most important thing is taking them out of the environment
| so they stop breaking down into microplastics and the like.
|
| Personally I think all these creative solutions for reusing
| plastics aren't so important. Collect it and put it in a
| giant landfill like an old open mine, bury it and forget
| about it until a future generation invents an efficient way
| to recycle it, then mine it like a resource.
| lawlessone wrote:
| > I asked Grok
|
| I asked Grok and it said you didn't ask it.
| throwaway474843 wrote:
| I'd like to see a video of the full process.
|
| 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 wrote:
| "Every scarf gets a label which tells you the time and the date
| on which the wind made the scarf."
|
| I think it's real.
| roxolotl wrote:
| I assume there's gearing to improve consistency.
|
| There's definitively post processing though as it's knitting a
| tube. "Occasionally the knitwear gets 'harvested' and
| transformed into scarves."
| Schattenbaer wrote:
| Yes it looks like it is felted afterwards
| codingdave wrote:
| The circular sock knitting machines, as pictured on the site,
| absolutely make high quality socks. My wife has a niche
| business teaching classes on how to use those machines, making
| and selling socks, etc.
|
| The part that would be missing from a wind-powered solution is
| the actual shaping of the sock. She spends a lot of time as she
| works futzing with the hooks on the machine to create the heel,
| toe, ribbing, etc. I'm not an expert in what she does, but I
| see enough to know that if this is just a turbine spinning the
| machine, you'd get a uniform tube, which would then be post-
| processed into individual fairly shapeless socks. Hand-crafting
| would shape the socks better, but the basic tubes are high
| quality even if unshaped.
|
| There is also definitely a niche-within-a-niche of people who
| work on these machines coming up with all kinds of non-sock
| applications for well-knit tubes of fiber. Scarves are an
| obvious one, but re-working different sizes of tubes to create
| stuffed animals is one of the more fun ones.
| lawlessone wrote:
| The page for buying a machine doesn't work :(
|
| Not that i could likely afford it.
| socalgal2 wrote:
| If you want a simpler version
|
| https://www.amazon.com/SENTRO-knitting-machines-intelligent-...
|
| Connect it to a wind powered generator or find a way to make a
| wind crank.
|
| Yea, I know, it's not the same as a cool metal one and that
| video is from 2009
| jbaber wrote:
| Now we just need wind spinning, wind carding, wind shearing, and
| wind husbandry. Lots of vertical opportunity.
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