Open Source Knitting

Some people work with electronics, some people are proficient with numbers and money, others paint or play musical instruments.  And some people...  knit...

For those who don't know, working with textiles might seem like a pretty simple thing to do, but most of us buy our clothes from the store and throw them out when they are worn out or old.

I can't even begin to claim any significant knowledge of textiles, aside from the most basic knowledge of the process from raw material to the clothing we wear.  But there are people who know this industry in and out, and for them, a knitting machine is the cat's meow.

In this article, we will look at how knitting is entering the Open Source community.

There's stitching, there's sewing, there's embroidering, and there's knitting / weaving, among others I'm sure I'm missing.  At the most basic frame, every piece of cloth is knitted (threads woven together).  After the strands of fibre are spun together into a thread, the thread(s) is(are) then looped together to create the ream of cloth, which is then used to make clothing.

Of course, there is a difference between knitting and weaving.  Weaving is interleaving threads into each other.  Knitting is generally using a single thread and looping it into itself, often with a thicker thread than used in weaving.  Knitting machines were a great industry solution which took knitting from grandma's couch to mass production.

Depending on the looping structure, meant the difference between a loose knit, light bed throw for fall, to a tight knit toque for a cold winter night.  Plus, it changed the texture of the fabric, creating intricate designs in the fabric.

But because knitting is done with a single thread, it was difficult to introduce different colours into a fabric.  That required tying a different colour thread on at just the right moments to create a colour pattern / design.  Again, this was where knitting machines really changed the face of knitting.  Eventually, smaller, affordable knitting machines for the home began to show up.

Most people have probably seen one version or another of the circular, craft knitting machine.  Making scarves and mittens and socks at home became a fairly simple affair.  Although a circular knitting machine does have its limits, as there is no edge.  Some people will be familiar with "cheap" circular knitted shirts with a print on them, that over time, the print starts to shift in a circular motion, no longer positioned on the centre of the shirt.  Of course, this is the result of the loops loosening due to wear and washing.

A warp knitted fabric doesn't quite have that problem.  Plus, a warp knitted fabric is a single sheet which can have a lot more potential application.  Just for information sake, the patent for the warp knitting machine was filed in 1959 and should not be called a linear knitting machine, as that is a different patent which was filed in 2006.

So, how does this come back around to Open Source?

Ultimately, this is bigger than just knitting, of course.  This is really about the entire textile industry.  But from a narrow, knitting focus, things like the equipment used for creating knitted garments to the patterns and methods to create such garments, have seen their share of patents and copyright.

As a result, people are beginning to create their own Open Source, mechanical knitting machines as well as hacking electronic knitting machines that are no longer covered by patent.  Also, people are sharing knitting information and designs under creative commons licenses.

While textiles are generally inexpensive, when they are not new fashion or brand names, being able to easily and inexpensively create our own garments and other textiles, especially using faster, more effective methods, can be very helpful to those who are looking to live a sustainable, open lifestyle.

It was expected that this article would be fairly short and simple, yet as research into this article spread out, the entire topic became much more involved, in depth and breadth.  So in future articles, we will discuss more details in the specific areas that Open Source has been embraced in knitting, and in textiles.