Geeky things to do with bits of string
I knit. Sometimes I crochet, and sometimes I sew, but mostly, lately, I knit. My Nanna taught me when I was a kid, and I’ve done it on and off ever since.
Sometimes people look at me funny for liking textile crafts, as if it were a strangely un-reconstructed 50s housewife sort of thing to be into. I disagree, but let’s save that for some other time.
Instead, have some geeky things made out of string:
- Crocheted coral reef.
- Woolly Thoughts publish patterns for mathematically-inspired afghans, cushions, and more.
- On a similar note, the book Making Mathematics With Needlework: 10 Papers and 10 Projects.
- A hat shaped like the Tardis, R2D2, or of course the classic Jayne hat.
- Space invaders socks.
- Binary scarf — knit your own message in ASCII, or use Unicode for a wider shawl, I suppose.
- Tetris baby blanket.
- Captain Capacitor: “He’s ready to save the day with his superhuman energy storing capabilities.”
- Kara Thrace sweater.
- Stargate dishcloth or Star Trek potholders.
- The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Brain Art including a knitted brain. “While our artists make every effort to insure accuracy, we cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of using fabric brain art as a guide for functional magnetic resonance imaging, trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, neurosurgery, or single-neuron recording.”
Got any more to add to the list?
Bene:
September 12th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Big knitter here! I love the Nautie, Francois the lobster, and this here cuddly scorpion.
And of course, the classic uterus.
I’ve only made the lobster, but it was a very fun knit.
Skud:
September 12th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
“And, of course, the uterus is not normally bubblegum pink.” Wait, it isn’t? *disappointed*
rivenwanderer:
September 12th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I crochet–geeky things I’ve made include a nautilus inspired by the nautie linked above, a Klein Bottle dice pouch, and a sunner (marine wildlife from the 1997 adventure game Riven).
Fandom Knit is a cool LJ comm about the fannish side of geek knitting/crochet.
I personally love the way crocheting engages the 3-dimensional visualization bits of my brain! It’s immensely satisfying to improvise patterns and see good approximations of the shapes I wanted emerge bit by bit. I’m really intrigued by crochet pattern generation and wish it was open source so I could see how it works!
Skud:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I can’t believe I forgot to mention klein bottles! I’ve even checked out this klein bottle hat site before. Not to mention moebius knitting a la Cat Bordhi.
Bene:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
What a cute sunner! I keep meaning to make a Klein bottle hat but I am Lazy. And of course there is the Moebius strip stuff, can’t believe I forgot that.
Bene:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Mine is black like my soul.
…sorry, I had to go there.
Mackenzie:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I’m a senior, working on a BS in Computer Science. Consequently, I keep being asked what I’m going to do after I finish my degree. Truthfully, I don’t know, but I’m toying with some ideas. One is a craft shop specializing in textiles. Mentioning this gets interesting reactions…especially the time I simplified it to “become a weaver…you know, making fabric?” My Operating Systems professor was very confused by the “craft shop for textiles, middle school math/computer teacher, or maybe computational linguistics*” response since none are tech (er, I think I’d disagree on that last one, but ok…). I told him tech is a hobby.
* Mary keeps mentioning computational linguistics on here, and I’m a language geek aside from being a computer geek…so this may actually be a good fit.
Skud:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Katamari Damacy earmuffs or a hat the size of the baby wearing it.
Space Invader cushion
Amigurumi space robot, Star Wars characters, Wall-E and Eve.
Moar robots.
Naomi Parkhurst:
September 13th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Mobius Stitch
DNA scarf
Geekcraft Ravelry Group (for registered Ravelry users only)
Lorenz Manifold
And I didn’t know that Alan Turing used to knit geometric shapes! (There’s just a short reference in a longer article about math, knitting, and crocheting.)
Melissa:
September 13th, 2009 at 3:24 am
Probably old news now, but Discworld in crochet is one I came across recently.
Dorothea Salo:
September 13th, 2009 at 7:34 am
I hadn’t seen that one! Thanks! That made my day.
Dori:
September 13th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Somewhat tangentially: does anyone here know of a good book or web site or video for someone to learn how to knit? I took classes once but got nowhere as I didn’t have anything to refer back to when I got home.
Every time I see cool stuff like this, it makes me want to try again, but I have no idea where to start.
Skud:
September 13th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
http://www.knittinghelp.com/ is awesome and has many videos. That and a copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “Knitting Without Tears” would be my recommendation, given that you already took a class (even if you don’t remember it so well).
Btw, if you don’t have an account of Ravelry (http://ravelry.com) you should get one! The pattern search engine and the forums are both fantastic resources, especially if you’re learning.
Layla:
September 14th, 2009 at 7:01 am
lol, knitted brain!! :)
My nana taught me how to knit too, eons ago..
I recently knitted some dish cloths, but that was it.. (or pot holders, more likely – we’re afraid to wash dishes with them!)
I’d like to improve my knitting though not sure if I have the patience for bigger things.. (I once started a pullover and got to only 1/5th or so..)
/goes off to search for organic yarn in Europe.. :)/
Bene:
September 14th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I personally picked up a lot from Debbie Stoller’s book Stitch and Bitch, and Skud’s recs are good too.
Kat:
September 14th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I have never knitted; I do beads and wire. Have made something like the binary scarf, though — binary (two-color) seed-bead bracelets, with messages in them. (This line in the instructions jumps out at me: “You can choose the order of ones and zeroes any way you like; I find it’s easiest to do it randomly.” Sure, you *can*, but then it’s a little embarrassing when people ask you what your scarf says…)
Skud:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Periodic table sweater.