The incredible Rocking Knit turns lazy motion into a wooly hat. Cool!

The association between knitting and rocking chairs is powerful and longstanding. It’s common knowledge that all knitting takes place next to log fires under the watchful but cataract-ridden eyes of octogenarian grandmothers as they rock gently back and forth. But the latest groundbreaking output from ECAL students Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex takes that stereotype and smashes it to pieces, removing the knitting from the hands of the oldies and mechanising it for ease.

Rocking Knit is a seriously impressive piece of product design using the pendular movement of the chair to drive a string of mechanical elements that power a mechanical knitting machine. As it slowly turns it produces a ready-made hat above the user’s head, seamlessly turning your lazy kinetic energy into a wearable product. If that doesn’t change your perception of knitting then nothing can.