A common preconception is that knitting is a textile technique that always relates to the human body, most often as a wool garment. With The Plug-in Stitch I challenge this belief and take a different standpoint. Knitting is recognised as a construction technique, a formula, that can be applied to other disciplines than textiles, for example technological science.

With this project I aim to knit together art, design and technological science into a unified matter. Various knitted experiments are made with the single stitch as a starting point, when conducting material explorations with non-textile materials such as resin, aluminium, and plastics, through 3D printing, sand casting and electronics.

The result is multi-layered. It is a textile artwork — a knitted sculpture with multiple narratives and potential truths. It is a design proposal for the science centre, Universeum. It is a pedagogical tool — an alternative way to teach and learn programming, electronics and knitting with just one tool. The interpretation is left to the observer and the socio-cultural context.

By Louise Christiansson, 2019.