SkyKnit: When knitters teamed up with a neural network
[Make Caows and Shapcho - MeganAnn]
[Pitsilised Koekirjad Cushion Sampler Poncho - Maeve]
[Lacy 2047Â -Â michaela112358]
I use algorithms called neural networks to write humor. Whatâs fun about neural networks is they learn by example - give them a bunch of some sort of data, and theyâll try to figure out rules that let them imitate it. They power corporate finances, recognize faces, translate text, and more. I, however, like to give them silly datasets. Iâve trained neural networks to generate new paint colors, new Halloween costumes, and new candy heart messages. When the problem is tough, the results are mixed (there was that one candy heart that just said HOLE).
One of the toughest problems Iâve ever tried? Knitting patterns.
I knew almost nothing about knitting when @[email protected] sent me the suggestion one day. She sent me to the Ravelry knitting site, and to its adults-only, often-indecorous LSG forum, who as you will see are amazing people. (When asked how I should describe them, one wrote âdonât forget the glitter and swearing!â)
And so, we embarked upon Operation Hilarious Knitting Disaster.
The knitters helped me crowdsource a dataset of 500 knitting patterns, ranging from hats to squids to unmentionables. JC Briar exported another 4728 patterns from the site stitch-maps.com.Â
I gave the knitting patterns to a couple of neural networks that I collectively named âSkyKnitâ. Then, not knowing if they had produced anything remotely knittable, I started posting the patterns. Hereâs an early example.
MrsNoddyNoddy wrote, âitâs difficult to explain why 6395, 71, 70, 77 is so asthma-inducingly funny.â (It seems that a 6000-plus stitch count is, as GloriaHanlon put it, âoptimismâ).Â
As training progressed, and as I tried some higher-performance models, SkyKnit improved. Hereâs a later example.
Even at its best, SkyKnit had problems. It would sometimes repeat rows, or leave them out entirely. It could count rows fairly reliably up to about 22, but after that would start haphazardly guessing random largish numbers. SkyKnit also had trouble counting stitches, and would confidently declare at the end of certain lines that it contained 12 stitches when it was nothing of the sort.
But the knitters began knitting them. This possibly marks one of the few times in history when a computer generated code to be executed by humans.
[Mystery lace - datasock]
[Reverss Shawl - citikas]
The knitters didnât follow SkyKnitâs directions exactly, as it turns out. For most of its patterns, doing them exactly as written would result in the pattern immediately unraveling (due to many dropped stitches), or turning into long whiplike tentacles (due to lots of leftover stitches). Or, to make the row counts match up with one another, they would have had to keep repeating the pattern until theyâd reached a multiple of each row count - sometimes this was possible after a few repeats, while other times they would have had to make the pattern tens of thousands of stitches long. And other times, missing rows made the directions just plain impossible.Â
So, the knitters just started fixing SkyKnitâs patterns.
Knitters are very good at debugging patterns, as it turns out. Not only are there a lot of knitters who are coders, but debugging is such a regular part of knitting that the complicated math becomes second nature. Notation is not always consistent, some patterns need to be adjusted for size, and some simply have mistakes. The knitters were used to taking these problems in stride. When working with one of SkyKnitâs patterns, GloriaHanlon wrote, âIâm trying not to fudge too much, basically working on the principle that the pattern was written by an elderly relative who doesnât speak much English.â
Each pattern required a different debugging approach, and sometimes knitters would each produce their own very different-looking versions. Here are three versions of âPaw Not Pointed 2 Stitch 2âł.
[Top - ActualJellyfish;Â Middle - LadyAurian;Â Bottom (sock version) - ShoelessJane]
Once, knitter MeganAnn came across a stitch that didnât even exist (something SkyKnit called âpbkâ). So she had to improvise. âI googled it and went with the first definition I got, which was âplace bead and knitâ.â The resulting pattern is âRibbed Rib Ribâ below (note bead).
[Ribbed Rib Rib - MeganAnn]
Even debugged, the patterns were weird. Like, really, really nonhumanly weird.
âI love how organic it comes out,â wrote Vastra. SylviaTX agreed, loving âthe organic seeming randomness. Like bubbles on water or something,âÂ
SkyKnitâs patterns were also a pain. Michaela112358 called Row 15 of Mystery Lace (above) âa bit of a head melterâ, commenting that it âlacked the rhythm that you tend to get with a normal patternâ. Maeve_ish wrote that Shetland Bird Pat âmade my brain hurt so I went to bed.â ShoelessJane asked, âOkay, now who here has read Snow Crash?â
[Winder Socks (2 versions) - TotesMyName]
âI was laughing a few days ago because I was trying to math a Skyknit pattern and my brainâŚfroze. Like, no longer could number at all. I stared blankly at my scribbles and at the screen wondering what had happened til somehow I rebooted. Yup, Skyknit crashed my brain.â - Rayn63
[Paw chain 2Â -Â HMSChicago]
On the pattern SkyKnit called âCherry and Acorns Twisted Toâ:
âCouple notes on the knitting experience, which while funny wasnât terribly pleasurable: Because thereâs no rhythm or symmetry to the pattern, I felt I was white-knuckling it through each line, really having to concentrate. There are also some stitch combinations that arenât very comfortable to execute physically, YO, SSK in particular.
That said, Iâm nearly tempted to add a bit of random AI lace to a project, perhaps as cuffs on a sweater or a short-row lace panel in part of a scarf, like Sylvia McFadden does in many of her shawl designs. As another person in the thread said, it would add a touch of spider-on-LSD.â -SarahScully
[cherry and acorns twisted to - Sarah Scully]
BridgetJâs comments on âButnet Scarfâ:
âFour repeats in to this oddball, daintily alien-looking 8-row lace pattern, and I have, improbably, begun to internalize it and get in to a rhythm like every other lace pattern.
I still have a lingering suspicion that Iâm knitting a pattern that could someday communicate to an AI that I want to play a game of Global Thermonuclear War, but I suppose at least Iâll have a scarf at the end of it?â -BridgetJ
[butnet scarf - BridgetJ]
There was also this beauty of a pattern, that SkyKnit called âTiny Baby Whale Sotoâ. GloriaHanlon managed somehow to knit it and described it as âa bona fide eldritch horror. Think Slenderman meets Cthulu and you wouldnât be far wrong.â
[Tiny Baby Whale Soto - GloriaHanlon]
Other than being a bit afraid of Tiny Baby Whale Soto, the knitters seem happy to do the bidding of SkyKnit, brain melts and all.
âI cast on for a lovely MKAL with a designer I totally trust and became immediately suspicious because the pattern made sense. All rows increase in an orderly manner. There are no âhuh?â moments. There are no maths at allâŚit has all been done for me. I thought I would be happy, yo. Instead, I am kind of missing the brain scrambling and I keep looking for pigs and tentacles. Go figure.â - Rayn63
Check out the rest of the SkyKnit-generated patterns, and the glorious rainbow of weird test-knits at SkyKnit: The Collection and InfiKnit.Â
Thereâs also a great article in the Atlantic that talks a bit more about the debugging.Â
If you feel so inspired (and donât mind the kind-hearted yet vigorous swearing), join the conversation on the LSG Ravelry SkyKnit thread - many of SkyKnitâs creations have not yet been test-knit at all, and others transform with every new knitterâs interpretation. Compare notes, commiserate, and do SkyKnitâs inscrutable bidding!
Heck yeah there is bonus material this week. Have some neural net-generated knitting & crochet titles. Some of them are mixed with metal band names for added creepiness. Enter your email here to get more like these:
Chicken Shrug
Snuggle Features
Cartube Party Filled Booties
Corm Fullenflops
Womp Mittens
Socks of Death
Tomb of Sweater
Shawl Ruins
areudirty
annaxmalina
baratheonpilled
izzy806
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
