Needle as Input: Exploring Practice and Materiality When Crafting Becomes Computing

A growing body of research combines craft and interaction design. The "Stitch Sampler" project, a sew-able musical instrument and craft platform, stands in this context. In particular, the project serves to underline the importance of two conceptual themes that have emerged in HCI over the last decade, specifically the "material turn" of research on computing and the "practice" or "action-centric" turn in HCI. We present that our prototype and its evolution process as an example of a third trend in HCI research that has developed closely along-side these shifts, with relation to research specifically on craft practice. We discuss the Stitch Sampler and related work that couple electronics and smart materials with craft practices. In that way the act of crafting has in some cases become a form of computation.