The motion and actions of knitting are converted into interactions with the Nintendo Wii.  Rather than being generic movements however, users need to actually decipher the differences between the motions of knitting and the motions of purling, wrapping the yarn, and transferring stitches. 

While still in early beta stages, the end goal is modeled after games such as Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, users are challenged to follow knits and purls on screen moving in rhythm with the game (and without dropping a stitch!)  In Kniittiing however, players can only knit a ‘virtual cloth’ (as apposed to performing a dance or singing a song) which relates to other of my works that reference tactility and code, while also bringing in elements of pop culture and scatological video games.

website now online!
www.KNiiTTiiNG.com

Frittata!
a little story about the making of

When I first started out with the idea of virtual knitting I was thinking about both the idea of representing code and also the motion of knitting.  I became interested in tracking the way your hands move and the intricate details of maneuvering a stitch. 

Around the same time the Nintendo Wii was gaining popularity and I picked up an interest in the new gaming consol which uses accelerometers and motion tracking.  At first I was looking to the Wii as something to hack and interface with traditional knitting needles.  But then I started to play the Wii and watch other people play the Wii.  I thought about my past work and ideas of game play being algorithmic, interaction, and humor.  And then it only seemed to make sense that I didn’t hack open a Wii, but rather re-program the Wii so I could knit with it. 

When I started my residency here I searched for a programmer who could help me out.  Every lead I was given just didn’t work, wasn’t the right personality, weren’t interested, or mostly just didn’t know how to do what I wanted to do.  Over a month into my residency and I still had gotten no where.  And then when I had searched all the way across the Atlantic, the person who came through was sitting right next to me.  After discovering some of the features inside the Wiimotes my partner Kyle became excited about trying to write code to interface with the motes.  At first it was just his programming way of thinking that sparked his interest in solving the challenge.  But as we started to work together, me breaking down every microscopic movement of knitting and him explaining the trigonometry behind the accelerometers, we realized we each brought our own interests to this project and the collaboration was born out of a partnership that already existed. 

The more we started to work and play silly Wii games, the more the ideas started to come.  We thought about the craze of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero and then thought we’d make our own type of “Knitting Hero”.  Users follow the knits and purls as they move up the screen challenging the player to knit in rhythm with the game, and without dropping a stitch! In Dance Dance Revolution the player produces a dance (or something like a dance), and in Guitar Hero the player creates an actual song.  In Kniittiing however, you can only knit a virtual cloth object which comes back to my ideas about tactility and code, while also bringing in elements of pop culture and scatological video games.