Spynning
STORIES
BY ANNA DILEMNA
A new invention records sounds, images, and more onto knitted objects.
Knitters indulge in their craft everywhere. screen one can see pointers indicating all the places
They knit while chatting with friends, while where data was recorded. The computer does this
waiting for the train, during family parties, by reading the invisible ink patterns, then correlating
and on camping trips. Oh, the stories those knitted them with the encoder data on how much yarn has
pieces could tell, if only they could speak. been used. One simply has to touch the pointers to
In fact, that just might be possible. The idea — play back the videos, photos, or recorded sounds
to imbue knitted objects with the memories and and see when and where they were captured.
stories that unfold as each piece grows stitch by
stitch — is one objective at the Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley. “We decided to create Spyn so
Professor Kimiko Ryokai and graduate student Daniela Rosner have devised Spyn, a system that that knitters would have a way
allows knitters to incorporate photos, videos,
sounds, and time and place data into their pieces.
“When I knit something, all the places I go and the things I experience become a part of that the physical craft and the story
object, but I never felt that those things were avail- able to the person I gave it to,” says Rosner. “We that went into its making.”
decided to create Spyn so that knitters would have
a way to provide a connection between the physical
craft and the story that went into its making.” As part of their research, Rosner and Ryokai
Here’s how Spyn works. Attached to the knitter’s enlisted 12 knitters to try Spyn out. One knitter
basket or bag is a knob called the rotary encoder (their names are withheld due to their roles as
and a small mobile computer equipped with a participants in a study) decided to use Spyn to
camera, a GPS tracker, and a touchscreen display incorporate the process of baking cookies into a
(it looks sort of like a large iPhone). As the knitter scarf she was knitting for her brother. She took
knits, yarn that has been printed with invisible infra- pictures of the recipe and made videos of herself
red ink patterns is pulled through the encoder knob, talking as she knitted and baked. “I loved the idea
which keeps track of exactly how much yarn has of giving a present that contains so many layers,”
been used. At any point while knitting, the knitter she says. “In addition to giving him a scarf, I could
can stop and use the camera to record sounds, take also give him a window into my life.”
a photo, or make a video. Another knitter used Spyn to keep records of how
When finished, the knitter points the infrared- she resolved various technical challenges in a scarf
enabled camera at the knitted object, and on the she knit for herself. “As a knitter who likes to alter
to provide a connection between
