Intangibuild training 'knitting heroes' with Wii-mote enhanced Kniitiing

Though there doesn't appear to have been much activity on the site since mid-2008, after coming across the project today I'm tentatively hopeful it's still moving forward: artist Rachel Beth Egenhoefer and scientist Kyle E. Jennings have partnered to create KNiiTTiiNG, a Wii-mote enhanced, presumably PC-based application that would use motion control to teach the basics of knitting via minigames and on-screen tutorials.

Egenhoefer explains:

The more we started to work together and play silly Wii games, the more the ideas started to come. We thought about the craze of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero and then thought we’d make our own type of “Knitting Hero”. Users follow the knits and purls as they move up the screen challenging the player to knit in rhythm with the game, and without dropping a stitch! In Dance Dance Revolution the player produces a dance (or something like a dance), and in Guitar Hero the player creates an actual song. In KNiiTTiiNG however, you can only knit a virtual cloth object which comes back to my ideas about tactility and code, while also bringing in elements of pop culture and scatological video games."

The site teases three patterns: a tea towel, 'sensible' hat and octopus toaster cover, but we might also suggest more game-centric further add-ons: pixel-patterned DS/PSP cozies? Partnering with mad-teaparty's Xiola for Katamari hat patterns? The possibilities are endless.

KNiiTTiiNG!! [Intangibuild, thanks Kristen!]