NERDlepoint

Internet-enabled, machine-readable embroidery for nerds

  Nerdlepoint patterns and canvases available on Etsy

You can get nerdlepoint patterns and canvases on Etsy, at nerdlepoint.etsy.com! The patterns will work for either needlepoint or cross-stitch.


Hello. My name is John Young, and I am a nerd.

I make websites and write code for a living, so in my free time I'm attracted to things that irrefutably exist. Like greasy 1970s BMW motorcycles, and movies on heavy, inconvenient 16MM film reels. And especially those two things combined. I also really like dense, textural needlepoint, which has a lot in common with pixel art. Instead of being made of electrons, phosphor, and worry, though, needlepoint is made of canvas, starch, wool, and time. A needlepoint cover for a brick doorstop will very probably exist in its original form in fifty or even a hundred years. Unlike, oh... every line of code written for an interactive website.

Needlepoint canvas on the frame. I made a needlepoint pillow top on 13-count mono canvas containing the 2D barcode for "Pillow" at Semapedia. It's a pillow, and it says "pillow" in the machine-readable code, but you can't read that code unless you have a cameraphone or a frickin' laser beam. So it's pretty nerdy. It got picked up by Craft Magazine, then by BoingBoing, and most recently got a brief mention in the NY Times.

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I'm having a great time continuing to explore how best to stitch a 2D barcode — right now, the hard part for me is painting the canvas — and so I figured I'd put up the charts I make here, at this Google-friendly URL. As soon as I (ahem!) finish one, I'll post it here, along with some instructions, for free download.

If you have any questions or want a stitch chart that will allow you to create the world's very first Rick Roll kleenex box cover, please email me at !

Other nerdy needlework links



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