Knitting Machine

The effort to complete most of knitted haggadah for our seder has certainly kept me busy, but there have been other projects pressing me around the edges. My sister’s birthday shawl is growing ever so slowly, but a floral lariat for my sister-in-law (based on the How Does Your Garden Grow pattern by Marnie McLean’s mother, Roxie Day) is nearly done. I’ve never been one for flowery stuff (unlike my sister-in-law), so this project has been a chance to study and try some techniques for felted flowers.

I’m only hours away from completing my last brioche beret for the season, for a musical friend. I’m overdue to finish my contribution to the Knit A Condom Amulet project, an effort to promote HIV and safe sex education for women over 50 - I’m working on a “peace pouch” based on leaves from the TikkunTree. This is an ongoing project led by Little Red Hen, working towards Knit in Public Day 2008, and well worth taking a look at.

So, I have to admit that I’ve felt like a knitting machine this past month or so. That said, it was a wonderful surprise to stumble across the real “Knitting Machine” (Tricot Machine), a Quebequois music duo, and their delightful, amazing knit-animated video …

Whether this is the result of commitment, addiction, or the miracle of knitting machine technology, the 700 knitted panels in this piece animate “sweater music” in a way that has to stimulate a knitterly response. Ideas of mobile knitting are crowding mine. (More information about this video is available here).