Progress report

[maradydd]

Chording glove pattern prototype, version 1, three fingers and a thumb left to knit:



I am making this up as I go along, thus there are a few irregularities that I will correct in the next version when I take my notes and turn them into a proper pattern. I realized halfway up the index finger that I'd failed to knit a solid line up the thumb side (for mounting the thumb switches) like I'd planned to, and that ugly-looking line right across the palm was an experiment that didn't quite work out and that I couldn't be arsed to go back and fix. (The fishnet pattern is made by knitting two stitches together, then making a hole by bringing the yarn to the front, over and over again. The cool spirally pattern comes from having each row of holes offset from the next by one stitch, which was obligatory when I was making increases for the thumb; I forgot to alternate when I started going up for the thumb side of the palm.)

All in all, though, I'm quite happy with how it's turning out, especially since a couple of experiments succeeded -- you can rib lace after all! -- and some things that I was worried would look stupid, like the solid fingertips (for stability, and to have a place to anchor the switches), look okay after all. Since this is an attempt to figure out a pattern, I'm making this out of plain cotton, and will wire it up by sewing 30ga wire through the knit stitches (the thicker "lines" that you see on the glove), but I still want to figure out a way to work the wiring into the pattern itself, because it will look cooler and I am stubborn like that.

Barring anything weird happening, I should have the complete standalone USB keyboard glove working sometime this week. I have my wire-wrap sockets now, and have soldered in half of the discrete components (the ones I had spares of, by way of a test run); I'm going to hold off moving the rest of the circuit from the breadboard until I have the glove finished and the switches mounted and wired, but the actual wiring-up shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

I'm kind of tempted to set up an Etsy shop and sell these, though I'm not sure how much would be a fair price. The actual knitting probably takes about ten hours (spread out over a few days, since my hands get sore quickly), and the soldering goes fast; the parts are less than $20 total. Any thoughts? Would you buy one?

Comments

[ben.livejournal.com]

Why can't you use off the shelf gloves?

10 hours of labor for knitting is not going to scale as a business. Besides, the knitting is not the most innovative part of the product, so it either needs to be outsourced or better yet pre-fabbed. You need to start thinking up front of how you're going to sell the entire concept to someone like Logitech, who can mass produce it.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

If you know where to find off-the-shelf fishnet gloves with non-fishnet fingertips, I'm all ears. I used a regular glove for the breadboarded prototype you saw a few posts back, and within ten minutes my left hand was uncomfortably hot to the point that I was ready to go back to my regular keyboard. Admittedly, this was during a heat wave, but given that I'm my own first customer, an openwork glove body is key -- but it needs solid fabric to anchor the switches, which is why the fingertips need to be stockinette (i.e., not lace).

I also need to design a PCB and see how small I can get the circuitry. (I think the answer is "pretty darn small.") At the same time, though, I'm using someone else's circuit design and code, so I don't know if I can sell this to Logitech or the like; I don't hold the copyright on the code or the diagram. Ironically, the only thing I have innovated on this is the pattern.

But, yes, you're right, it absolutely doesn't scale as a handmade item.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

You could get hold of fishnet gloves and sew non-fishnet fingertips onto them, perhaps...

[sthomson06.livejournal.com]

Well, that's certainly debatable. Many knitters sell their finished products, even ones that take a dozen hours of knitting time or more. Granted, they are often sold at a loss, but there is a viable market for $50 hand-knit gloves (http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=handmade&search_query=knit+glove&order=price_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title&min=40&max=60), even without the keyboard hardware. And note that most of the ones at that link are fingerless, which is much faster to knit than even fishnet gloves.

A more viable model might include selling a kit that includes a well-written pattern and the necessary hardware to make the keyboard parts. That's definitely something I'd consider buying!

[(Anonymous)]

Replying to myself:

Of course, if we're talking about getting more than 10 orders a month, the gloves can and should be outsourced to a machine-knitter.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

I would definitely be able to put kits together, since I live within walking distance of both a yarn store and an electronics store. (Truly, I am in heaven.) The only real "work" I'd need to do would be to burn the firmware onto the microcontrollers, and that takes about 45 seconds per microcontroller.

Do you think knitters are up for soldering (lwood is, I know, since I brought her to the event where she learned :) ) or electronics geeks are up for knitting? Maybe people can team up.

Oh, and this tells me that I really do need to make that PCB, since most people aren't going to have wire-wrap tools available.

[sthomson06.livejournal.com]

Just saw your response!

Personally, I'm a knitter who can also solder, although I recognize I'm in the minority :) There are quite a few knitters who have tech-inclined spouses or SO or friends, although I can't give you a hard number. If you're not on Ravelry (https://www.ravelry.com/) I can post this on some of the techy groups over there and see what the interest would be.

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

Also, yeah, the fingers are the hard part on any glove. Can machine-knitters do work in the round, or just flat? I know next to nothing about them.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

Not to mention she has zero time to start another business...

[ephermata.livejournal.com]

I'd buy one, up to about $60 or so.

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

I would pay up to $500 for a working set of steno gloves, though it would take a bit of figuring out exactly how to fit all 22 keys onto it, and it would need to be compatible with the specs (which I already got from the manufacturer) of my other steno machine.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

Most fingers could hold 3 "keys" -- though some chording combinations can't be had.

(The finger gestures I am thinking of are as follows -- take your hand, extend your fingers as if ready to clap. Flex your first finger at the second knuckle, leaving the other joints unchanged. That's one. Now take the flexed-at-2nd-knuckle finger and flex at the third knuckle, essentially curling the finger down to the palm. That's two. Start again with the extended. Flex at the third digit, bringing the outstretched finger downward.) This doesn't work for everyone for all fingers -- the ones controlled by the ulnar nerve (the "pinky" and "ring finger") are often hard to move independently). But even so, I think this can give more than 22 keys.)

We could do this with some sort of hydraulic system or with that capacitive tubing that the robotics people use.