Patterned Knits Via A Voice Activated Knitting Machine

Ever wondered what knitted fabric would look like if your machine could knit your voice?

Gelsomina, a voice activated knitting machine, is the brain child of two Berlin art students, Magdalena Kohler and Hanna Wiesener.

They modified a vintage Empisal punch card knitting machine, allowing it to select needles based on the melodies of the human voice.

The process works on more than stockinette, being able to affect tuck and slip patterns as well. The computer selects the needles, you control the carriage settings.

According to the article…

“The fashion designer and the product designer worked together to hack a knitting machine from the ’70s. Just say a message into a microphone and the frequency of your voice is analyzed by a computer and turned into binary code that the machine will interpret to control 24 servo-motors which will turn your words into knitted pattern.”

Check out the monstrous attachment to the top of the machine. It looks like a church pipe organ. Maybe next time when my girls misbehave and decide to drop stitches I will speak more calmly.

photos by we-make-money-not-art
[Thanks Bre Pettis]

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