Introduction

Every handknit artifact has a story associated with the experience of its making. But not every story can be told by the object itself. What if we could use a handmade object to discover the crafter's stories: where she was, who she was with, or what she was thinking about at the time the object was made? Does the augmentation of a traditional practice undermine the preservation of its heritage? How can we both preserve and extend existing creative activities?

In response to these questions, we developed Spyn to investigate how digital archives can be physically twinned with handcraft. Spyn is a system for knitters to record, recall and share information surrounding the process of handcraft. Using the yarn as a timeline of a knit's creation, Spyn allows knitters to associate audio annotations to the knit yarn. Our current prototype uses patterns of infrared ink printed on yarn in combination with computer vision techniques to associate locations in knit fabric with audio and visual messages recorded by the knitters during the knitting process. When the knit yarn is photographed using Spyn, Spyn analyzes the ink patterns on the yarn and visualizes events over the photograph of the knit. Over time, the knitter weaves a one-dimensional thread of yarn into a three-dimensional fabric of personal stories.

Technology & Craft

We began investigating the relationship between technology and craft by visiting knitting groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. To our surprise, knitters often did not turn off their cell phones or technology while knitting, but used technology to aid their social activity. Knitters sometimes capture photos or coordinating plans with a friend. Knitters' conversations commonly focused on people surrounding their knitting practice. Old romantic partners for whom the knitters knit, future recipients of knitters creations, and the people who taught the knitters to knit, were common themes in these discussions. The lack of distinction between knitting, conversation, and computer-mediated social activity suggests that technology was not overly disruptive of the knitting process. Our observations revealed a strong connection between interpersonal relationships and the knitting craft.

This bond between knitting and sociality is also reflected in the rise in online activity devoted to knitting. Diaries and blogs devoted to the discussion and documentation of knitting record various crafting techniques, present knitting projects, and recall personal narratives while knitting. Textiles and craft have had a long tradition of storytelling. The notion that narratives are embedded in craft is often quite literally true —e.g., wives of wartime soldiers recorded images of bible stories and legends with colorful quilted fabrics; knitters in Peru use coded patterns to signal the community from which they came. But the craft itself does not archive the story of its making; and neither the quilt nor the Peruvian knits can encode the complex stories articulated in knitting diaries or blogs.

Knitting, instead, enables temporal and spatial flexibility. Portable by design, knitting unfolds over time in a variety of environments, from homes to subway stations and coffee shops. Knitters are motivated by a variety of social, cultural and individual concerns. People knit for gifting, recreation, feeling creative and productive, and even to expend to nervous energy. The knit artifact is "charged" with the history, narratives, and memories of various people and places.

Without altering the existing knitting practice, Spyn provides opportunities for connecting contextual information with handcrafted artifacts. Spyn addresses a largely unexplored domain of design: the infusion of technology into the production of handcrafted artifacts. Through designing and evaluating Spyn, we hope to reveal ways in which technology can preserve cultural heritage while providing new avenues for communication and creative expression.