Knitted Textiles

Nation in a sheep's coat: The Icelandic sweater

by Gudrun Helgadottir

Published in FORMakademisk 4(2), 2011

The Icelandic sweater is presented and received as being traditional—even ancient—authentically Icelandic and hand... more The Icelandic sweater is presented and received as being traditional—even ancient—authentically Icelandic and hand made by Icelandic women from the wool of Icelandic sheep. Even so, the sweater type, the so-called ‘Icelandic sweater’ in English, only dates back to the mid-20th century and is not necessarily made in Iceland nor from indigenous wool. Nevertheless, the sweater is a successful invention of a tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983), popular among Icelanders and tourists alike since its introduction in the mid-20th century. It has gained ground as a national symbol, particularly in times of crisis for example in the reconstruction of values in the aftermath of the Icelandic bank collapse of 2008. I traced the development of the discourse about wool and the origins of the Icelandic sweater by looking at publications of the Icelandic National Craft Association, current design discourse in Iceland and its effect on the development of the wool industry. I then tied these factors to notions of tradition, authenticity, national culture, image and souvenirs.

Keywords: Lopapeysa / The Icelandic sweater, textiles, souvenir, heritage, image

Application of Neural Networks In Knitting Technology

by Milin Patel

Neural network is a well known computational structure. A neural network is a massively parallel distributed processor... more Neural network is a well known computational structure. A neural network is a massively parallel distributed processor made up of simple processing units, which has a neural propensity for storing experiential knowledge and making it available for use. It has capability to organize its structural constituents, known as “Neurons”. Neural network can perform computations (e.g. fabric pattern, fabric defects, fabric wrinkle, knitted fabric loop length deflation, etc.) many times faster than the fastest computer. Neural Network is a branch of an “Artificial Intelligence” .The Neural Network is understood on the basis of their properties, construction, classification – based on application, advantages of neural computing. Neural network describes the method, for the prediction of both construction and performance parameters of fabrics. Accordingly, constructional parameters are used as input for predicting the performance parameter in forward engineering, and the parameters are reversed for the reverse engineering prediction. Comparison between actual results and predicted results is made to achieve required quality of knitted fabric. Knitting technology requires a thorough understanding of the performance properties and construction parameters of fabric to be produced. Knitting technology is not much explored in case of neural network. In this paper we have tried to simulate the knitting parameters like loop length with the help of neural network and check its effect on final fabric.