[HN Gopher] Kniterate Notes
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       Kniterate Notes
        
       Author : surprisetalk
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2026-03-10 15:20 UTC (5 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (soup.agnescameron.info)
 (TXT) w3m dump (soup.agnescameron.info)
        
       | stavros wrote:
       | This looks interesting but I have no idea what it's talking
       | about. I assume this is how non-techies feel when reading a
       | programming article.
        
         | microflash wrote:
         | Indeed. I'm also quite lost but it caught the eye of an
         | acquaintance. Hopefully, we'll have a discussion over tea about
         | it.
         | 
         | To me, knitting seems to be such an intimate art where a person
         | pours their skill and heart. When I wrap myself in the sweater
         | that my grandmother knit for me in a city far away from home, I
         | feel her presence and love in the patterns woven in the fabric,
         | wondering what she'd have been thinking while knitting. "I was
         | thinking about the latest mischief of our naughty goats and
         | this boy frolicking along with them." She'd answer whenever
         | someone asked.
         | 
         | Programming and automating this takes away all that intimacy
         | out of that art but I guess it is inevitable for the
         | "engineering" minds. Maybe there's a wonder to it just by
         | exploring the possibilities, albeit through machines.
        
           | WillAdams wrote:
           | The thing is, early knitting machines were advertised by
           | showing them competing against "mighty fishermen of many
           | years" since it was deemed a necessary activity for fishing
           | communities in winter.
           | 
           | View it as an extension of Jaquard looms and the punch cards
           | used for them being the precursors of modern computers.
           | 
           | c.f., the Native American representations of Intel chip
           | designs:
           | 
           | https://kottke.org/24/09/a-navajo-weaving-of-an-intel-
           | pentiu...
        
         | kruffalon wrote:
         | This is a programming article, just not in your subfield.
         | 
         | If you have any programming background and some time to
         | aquiantence yourself with the specific words and aspects of
         | this kind of programming I'm sure it will make sense to you too
         | :)
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | It's mostly the knitting terms I don't know, not so much the
           | engineering ones. Fairisle, Jacquard, etc.
        
             | oh_my_goodness wrote:
             | Possibly you might be missing the point. Unless maybe this
             | comment is subtle humor?
        
               | kruffalon wrote:
               | If it is subtle humour it's too subtle for me ;)
        
       | mtVessel wrote:
       | I applaud their restraint. Me, I would've been compelled to title
       | it, "Kniterate Knotes".
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | I used to live near a town called "Knik" which all the locals
         | pronounced with a hard "K" like "Kuh-nick". It launched a
         | terrible habit of intentionally pronouncing silent K on all
         | words, which was way more fun that it should have been. I
         | started using all sorts of phrases just so I could pronounce
         | the hard K, like "Don't get your kuh-nickers in a twist". I
         | also started using a handle of "The Knight of Knik" which I of
         | course pronounced as "The Kuh-nite of Kuh-nik", which then I
         | shortened to "The Knik Knight" (pronounced "Kuh-nik Kuh-
         | night"). I likewise applaud the author's restraint.
        
       | treetalker wrote:
       | Other knitting articles for background (knitting machine;
       | programming the machine; etc.) are linked on the same site here:
       | https://soup.agnescameron.info/index.html
        
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       (page generated 2026-03-15 23:00 UTC)