Wind powered knitting machine takes the tedium out of your heirloom production

Knitting is one of those acquired crafting skills we just never fully warmed up to. We'll embroider, crochet, or quilt until the sun sets for the last time on the day of the apocalypse, but knitting is just so... boring sometimes. Luckily, ingenious artist Merel Karhof has a solution for the monotony of the knit - purl - knit - purl routine. She's designed and invented a machine that knits all on its own, harnessing the ever-present power of the wind. Called the Wind Knitting Factory, the automatic knitting machine itself looks like a cross between an old-timey coffee grinder and a medieval torture device (which we like about it very much), and knits a scarf in about two hours. This isn't likely to be the type of thing that every hits the retail market, but we'll tell you this: if it did, we'd be first in line. Hit the read links for video, more photos, and an explanation of the machine's design.

Read - Merel Karhof's blog
Read - Show RCA Wind Knitting Factory

[jared @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:36AM]

That's awesome.

[Freakin Ijit @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:12AM]

That's an awesome scarf.

[Joseph @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:48AM]

that every hits

[Jugglegeek @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:48AM]

I don't know where you get that knitting is boring but crocheting isn't, but never underestimate the wrath of knitters. Knitting needles are sharpened, crochet hooks aren't. =)

[Phrank @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:50PM]

That's cute. Just try to scoop somebody's eye out with knitting needles. *brandishes crochet hooks menacingly*

But don't worry. If you've been knitting for long at all I'm sure you'll be able to continue without eyes.

[Richard Lai @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:52AM]

I wonder if there are other knitters in the Engadget team, other than you, Laura? I hope it's not an entry requirement!

[Laura June @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:57AM]

You know, I'm fairly certain that it's just me, Richard!

[Richard Lai @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:50AM]

Phew! Well, I'm gonna go check out the knitting place just down the road now - it should be near my haircut place.

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:02AM]

Now you know where Doctor Who got his.

[Richard Lai @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:14AM]

Dude, the Doctor INVENTED this!

[7710user @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:21AM]

Whoa.. creepy.. I used to work in that building 37 Thurloe st, South kensington.. about 12 years ago..

[Jena (the yarn harpy) @ Jul 2nd 2009 11:23AM]

Very cool! The machine isn't completely a new invention - she's rigged an antique circular sock machine to wind power, but is very cool nonetheless. :)

[Jake @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:00PM]

Target demographic: Rapunzel.

-jp

[AwesomeWells @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:11PM]

Utter bollocks. Burn it; and throw some tyres on there for good measure.

[WilfordBrimley @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:30PM]

I think saying that she "designed and invented" it is a stretch. It's an antique hand-cranked knitting machine (from 1920, according to a page on the first link) connected to a windmill.

[necro81 @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:33PM]

The actual knitter is an old-timey machine that's been around for 100 years or more. What she did was wind-power the hand crank.

Still pretty neat, though, if all you want is a very, very long tube sock.

[john @ Jul 2nd 2009 4:25PM]

Why not a wind sock?

[Jared @ Jul 2nd 2009 5:09PM]

The witty-to-meh comment ratio is especially high on this story!

[Laura @ Jul 4th 2009 10:38AM]

Genius art, perhaps, but it doesn't work.

I hate to be the cranky one here (and if a sock-machine-knitter can make a pun on "crank" or "sock" she will - even I think it's annoying, and yet I do it) but this isn't actually functioning, but rather just a cool piece of art.

Check out the first picture on your page - you will notice that there ISN'T ANY YARN coming into the yarn feeder, that loop on the very top left hand corner of the picture. See that? On an actual functioning machine, that would mean the entire knitted scarf product, with its attached multi-pound weights, will come crashing down on the very next revolution of the crank, and require an annoying 20 minute setup.

If you watch the video several times in a row, you will notice that's it's cleverly edited to make you think it's actually working, but it's not. The scarf never gets any longer, though it should, given the speed of the cranking. The yarn feed is shown, but not actually shown connected to the machine and working. The shots of the machine actually knitting are tightly edited to keep you from seeing whether there's a hand revolving the knitter, or the windmill.

A few other little things - see that weight beneath the knitter? That must be adjusted, by hand, every few inches or proper tension will not be maintained. And if that yarn feed were to break, and it was actually functioning, the whole thing would, again, come crashing down on the heads of passers-by.

Admire it as symbolic art, but don't believe it.

[loranger329 @ Jul 6th 2009 11:52AM]

You? Are my geeky knitting hero.

[Erzsibet @ Jul 7th 2009 4:52PM]

Awsome,. something I would love to have

[Gavin Brown @ Jul 8th 2009 10:53AM]

That looks like the machine from Babe