Comments on: Knitting for Geeks

Knitting for Geeks

orange swan — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:29:42 -0800

The Top 10 Geekiest Yarn Creations If you've ever felt knitting was in danger of getting too sexy these days, the people at Threadbanger have provided an antidote. They've compiled a list of the ten geekiest projects on the net, which include an Atari 2600 system (on which you will never max your Pac-Man score), a knitted Hogwarts (though it appears to actually be crocheted and needlepointed), and a scrollbar scarf. And if anyone wants a crocheted yoda hat and matching light sabre, I am not taking orders.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:49:51 -0800

Cool. But can knitting get me laid? Answers here.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:51:53 -0800

Those socks are pretty sweet.

By: craichead

craichead — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:55:20 -0800

Knitty's binary scarf is also awesomely geeky.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:00:42 -0800

My idea of a good geeky kntting project would be MeFi knitwear. Like a camera bag that bears the words "We have cameras". Or a blue cashmere hoodie with the MeFi logo on it.

By: triolus

triolus — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:02:47 -0800

From the article: Sorry, Harry Potter fans, no knitted anus or knitted rectum in this one. Huh?

By: amyms

amyms — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:03:02 -0800

Cute stuff! Although, that baby in the Yoda Hat picture looks like he's been scarred for life.

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:36:02 -0800

They all make me want to sneeze. It's not so much that the creations are dusty at the moment; it's that it's so easy to picture them gathering dust in a thrift store fifteen years from now.

By: Many bubbles

Many bubbles — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:46:23 -0800

I love the scroll bar scarf. Love love love.

By: DU

DU — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:48:09 -0800

Huh? Look at the previous entry.

By: web-goddess

web-goddess — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:14:59 -0800

I can't believe they didn't put me on there. There's nothing geekier than going to the trouble of knitting your own Howarts costume and then being the only person at the theater. *SOB* (I'd also just like to point out that I've lost a lot of weight since then.)

By: H-Bar

H-Bar — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:29:11 -0800

For the truly ambitious crafty geek, there's always the Lorenz Manifold.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:43:07 -0800

I truly admire the level of obsession of the person who owns Doctorwhoscarf.com.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:00:41 -0800

Feeling warm and comforted now. Thank you Orange Swan. Neat. (knit?)

By: Lucinda

Lucinda — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:17:01 -0800

Do I get bonus points because I'm knitting while reading this thread? No? Ok.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:31:50 -0800

Knitty's binary scarf fills me with rage. Or, the sentence of the blurb that says "we managed to fit x number of bits on the scarf", which someone at BoingBoing breathlessly quoted - woo woo! look how much info is coded into the scarf! Knitting is naturally a binary medium (two main stitches: knit, purl). The compression of binary information in that scarf is absurdly low compared with the compression available if we just treat a knit as 0 and a purl as 1. We could encode the Declaration of Independence in that scarf, not just the first sentence (or equivalent amount of data), if we just exploited the natural binariness of the medium. Harumph.

By: Hildegarde

Hildegarde — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:35:04 -0800

web-goddess, you're too adorable for words.

By: Many bubbles

Many bubbles — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:49:50 -0800

By: hurdy gurdy girl

hurdy gurdy girl — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:13:48 -0800

Aww! Lovely Hogwarts costume, web-goddess. I covet the Atari and TV set from that list. Unfortunately my crochet skills are more limited than my knitting abilities. Could I knit a TV set? Hmm. [/geeky] And did anyone else think the Yoda kid's light sabre looked like a dildo?

By: MrVisible

MrVisible — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:19:14 -0800

No geeky knitting thread is complete without the Jayne Cobb hat! http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=19076.20

By: Emredi

Emredi — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:57:07 -0800

Some other interesting geeky knit/crochetwear I've come across: Flying Spaghetti Monster hat Domo-kun kid's backpack Monitor Cozy

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:20:56 -0800

Ah, mrs. dreamsign is lusting after those katamari knit figures. She's been saying she's not up to them yet, but has been working on a set of chiyo-gami ones that are very cool. LOVE that atari one with Pitfall!

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 03:12:29 -0800

May I add my own contribution to the world of geekish knitting?

By: PontifexPrimus

PontifexPrimus — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 03:37:41 -0800

amyms: "Cute stuff! Although, that baby in the Yoda Hat picture looks like he's been scarred for life." And I seriously think they should attach a label reading "lightsaber" to the... other accessory. Just in case people might get ideas.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 04:50:55 -0800

Knitty's binary scarf is also awesomely geeky. posted by craichead at 5:55 PM on June 3 [+] [!]

No, no it isn't. It's poser shit. Take your fake 'geek chic' and shove it, madam. Harumph! indeed...

By: Spatch

Spatch — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:27:11 -0800

I truly admire the level of obsession of the person who owns Doctorwhoscarf.com. Back in the early 80s, when my local public television station ran Tom Baker episodes of Doctor Who, one of their pledge drive gifts was a set of instructions on how to knit your own Doctor Who scarf. I got my parents to cough up the $25.00 or whatever they wanted for pledges back then, and then my grandmother took the pattern and knit a Doctor Who scarf for me. I don't remember the scarf being 20 feet long, though; more like maybe 12 or 15, but it certainly was long enough on a 7-year-old. To wear it, I had to loop it 'round my head three times to ensure I wasn't dragging half of it on the ground. I was the coolest mummified-head geek kid on the wintery playground and out of a competitive pool of maybe two geek kids in school, I figure I was doing pretty fine. However, I have two younger brothers, and Grandma always wanted to make sure she never favored one grandchild over another, so she knit them Doctor Who scarves as well. This woman knit three 15-20 foot scarves for her grandchildren. That's 45 to 60 feet of knittin' right there. Grandma loved us. She also loved to knit.

By: stackmonster

stackmonster — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 06:17:26 -0800

btw, im geeky enough to have knit a doctor who scarf for a friend of mine. okay, it was for the guy i was into's best friend. but incase you were wondering, it must have helped because we are married now. nonetheless, i made the scarf without the help of a website pattern. and i would do it again! i cant help myself! i confess! i love to knit geeky things! (glad for the confession space folks. im feeling better now.)

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:43:25 -0800

What, no Jayne hat?

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:52:48 -0800

Another pattern for a Jayne Cobb hat. Glad to see MrVisible posted one already! I don't knit, but I think the treesweater is fantastic. On preview: not meant to snark at Foosnark.

By: craichead

craichead — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:05:43 -0800

I apologize for the faux-geek binary scarf! I'm not that kind of geek! I'm a historian, and I run from anything math-y! (I am, however, geeky enough to have found a baby Jayne hat pattern to make a baby shower gift for my Browncoat friends. And their baby is still hypothetical.) To make up for my sins, I will post a link to this, which I think is my all-time favorite knitted thing, period. It's geeky, but its fabulousness transcends the geekitude.

By: clavicle

clavicle — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:06:25 -0800

While we're at it, let's straddle the geek/nerd divide: DNA cable scarf and my favorite, this amazing page of knitted orientable and nonorientable surfaces, plus many awesome links.

By: Tehanu

Tehanu — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:25:26 -0800

craichead, yarn + zombies = awesome! yarn + zombies + Shaun = more awesome (Flikr sideshow) Ed and Shaun's shirts are even accurate. It's geektastic! clavicle, the DNA helix scarf just doesn't look comfortable. But plenty geeky.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:28:08 -0800

Hey, if anyone wants MeFi knitwear patterns, don't forget you've got the author of 10+ knitting-and-related books sitting right here. *cough cough, that'd be me* If there really exists a need, I'll fill it. Just ask. We did hyperbolic crochet at Maker Faire but couldn't do moebius knitting because none of the needles the sponsor had were long enough.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:43:45 -0800

OH -- their moebius knitted link is so not as good as Cat Bordhi's method -- they've got you doing that fake-y half-twist rigamarole. If you want to knit a REAL moebius, you gotta do it Cat's way. See here or any of her books.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 09:12:24 -0800

My friend G. wants me to knit him a girlfriend. I told him he'd have to be satisfied with a nice scarf.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:52:39 -0800

I keep telling kittens for breakfast he should let me teach him how to knit so he can attract babes, orange swan. It would totally work!

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:23:11 -0800

bitter-girl, for moebius, do you just knit a scarf and then kitchener stitch the ends together with a half-twist? craichead, no worries about the binary scarf. It's a very nice looking design. I'm more harumphing at the breathless description the geek blog BoingBoing gave it, when they linked to it a while ago - they should really know better. Just an old bee in my bonnet. And yeah, can I say that this kind of geekiness and creativity is exactly why I enjoy knitting so much? So, nice work all around. Go knitters!

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:27:32 -0800

Ah no... you cast on stitches on the long side of the scarf, onto circulars, and then join up the first round the "wrong way" (or, what would be the wrong way if you wanted to knit a cylinder)?

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:42:03 -0800

Actually, LobsterMitten, it's a bit more complex than that -- you use a superlong circular needle (40" +), and loop it around itself, then start casting on and picking up stitches from either side of the needle cord... (Eeee, did that make sense at all? it's one of those learning-by-doing things, if you ask me -- if you've got access to Knitty Gritty on TV, keep taping 'til you get Cat's episode if you're more a visual learner. Or see catbordhi.com for a list of her books). Done properly it really only has ONE EDGE, which the half-twisting, Kitchenering, cheating methods don't! Very, very cool. And as you knit, you notice that it is growing equally on either side -- in essence, you're starting from the middle and knitting out.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:44:11 -0800

Hmmm. I'm going to have to try that to get it. The kitchener version should be just like the paper-strip version we made in elementary school, though, in terms of how many edges it has. So those paper-strip things weren't really moebius strips either?

By: meditative_zebra

meditative_zebra — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:11:43 -0800

I can't believe there's a binary scarf being discussed without Neal Stephenson even being mentioned. Hasn't anyone read The Baroque Cycle?

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:13:26 -0800

No crochet coral reef? The MrsMoonPie is an accomplished knitter, and made me a fantastic camoflage, 6-foot-long, 18-inch-wide scarf, though I'm having no luck getting her to make me a Strongbad ski mask. That'd be sweet.