Exploring Self-Embedded Knitting Programs with Twine

We examine how we might explicitly embed the intricate details of the fabrication process in the design of an object; the goal is for the programs that manufacture the object to also produce themselves within the object. We highlight how concretizing the design process of an object in the real object can help reconstruct items and remind us of the reality that all objects must be manufactured, incurring labour and environmental costs. By drawing inspiration from self-reproducing programs, we outline a new self-decoding language design centred around quines for knitting, a versatile technique in fabric construction, with both historical significance and recent advances in programmable whole-garment machines for their manufacture. We show some preliminary results of using this language design to create knitted quines, and discuss how this interesting question might be further advanced.