Without the knitting needle – no clothes. In many ways, it is a "magic" needle that knits threads together into fabric, which is then cut and sewn into T-shirts, socks, and underwear.
On circular knitting machines, the needles are arranged in a circle, allowing the machine to knit round and round, producing a continuous tube of fabric.
In the 1950s, a minor revolution occurred in the textile industry. Machines were developed that could be programmed to knit the heels of socks.
It isn’t magic when socks are knitted, but it almost feels like it, as the machine does the work entirely on its own. The socks are knitted continuously, one after the other, and the machine takes only five minutes to knit a single sock. To avoid just knitting a straight tube, the machine must be programmed for decreasing, increasing, and knitting knit and purl stitches to shape the sock to the foot.
Programming is done using punched cards in metal discs. These discs instruct the machine whether to knit stockinette or ribbing, whether to decrease for the heel or toe, or whether to switch to a different colored thread.
This means that one worker can operate multiple machines simultaneously. Another worker sews the toe closed. The machine performs the bulk of the work and can knit an almost finished product independently.
These machines are still used today to knit warm wool socks for the museum’s own production and gift shop.
Can the knitting needle be compared to Artificial Intelligence (AI)? AI has proven capable of performing many tasks faster and more precisely than humans. This will change the workday for many in the future, offering both new opportunities and limitations in how we solve tasks. We do not yet know how this will affect society in the long run.
The word "Revolution" is not an understatement when discussing modern AI and the impact it has on society, life, work – and humanity itself.