The Knitted eBook

Outline – How can books be ‘digitised’ through textiles? Knitting workshops to create a new textile installation for Milton Keynes libraries, and accompanying publication.

Partners – Milton Keynes Libraries ‘Digitalis’ programme and local knitting groups. Digitalis project produced by Burning Bridges.

Synopsis

The Knitted eBook is both a large scale knitted banner created with library users and knitting groups, and a publication which documents the process and the designs created.

Together we explored ways in which books can be ‘digitised’ and knitted, through binary encryption, figurative pixel art, and scanning actual books to be translated to bitmap images. Over 50 participants created machine-knitted works in response to their chosen books. The final pieces were then stitched together to create a giant banner.

Knitting patterns and tips have traditionally been distributed in print, through magazines, but also through self-publishing – sometimes copyrighted, sometimes for free. By creating a self-published eBook archive of our work, we are able to update this model of distribution, allowing access to the designs and and insight into the process for free, with no material cost.

Lead Artists  – Sam Meech

Publication

The Knitted eBook
(Re-Dock, 164 pages, digital, print)

Print copies just £8.99 plus P&P – email sam [at] re-dock [dot] org

Digital version is FREE!

download ePub (59 mb)
download PDF (28 mb)

Documentation

See the full workshop gallery here

Links

MK Digitalis Website