Mensa Crochet

If having brains is sexy, then Matt Gilbert needs to be one of People magazine’s sexiest men alive. Matt developed a computer program that creates very complex radiating crochet patterns “inspired by the intimate historical ties between textiles and computation, as well as the propagation patterns of acoustics.” Oh yeah Baby!

Matt has taken the industrialized process of textile manufacturing and turned it upside down. Instead of the human telling the machine what to craft, the machine is instructing the human on what to craft. This desire was empowered by his research of the parallel histories of textiles and computation.

On his site, Matt explains the mechanizing of computation and its effect on the textile industry. I was shocked (yet not surprised) to learn that the automation of knitting was developed in 1859 out of the sheer jealousy a husband felt towards his wife spending more time with her knitting than with him. The wife then created the Guilt-o-Matic and the age of the modern marriage began.

While showcasing two completed sweaters and the charts the computer program generates, Matt explains how the patterns that are created are so complex they could not be followed as you would a conventional crochet pattern, but that he must follow the computer step-by-step as he crochets each stitch.

Personally, I hope that he develops downloadable versions of the patterns. Maybe even a video of the pattern being created by the computer so that more people (me) can follow along and make these fascinating creations. Keep it in mind Matt!

Read Matt’s entire article here.

Also, check out his Scrollbar Scarf. There is even an instructional video on how to make this Geeky Goodie.