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Hey, that Sock Monkey Hat Blinked #WearableWednesday
This tres adorable hat was recently created by Niki Selken and Annelie Koller. They were intrigued by 8×8 LED matrices (aren’t we all?), so they decided to work on a project that would imitate eyes. They were thinking about using some cheap glasses, but then fell in love with this hat. We think they made an excellent choice! Here’s their first prototype; you can see the Arduino in the background.
The duo did face one challenge — synching.
Our major hurdle was getting the eyes to blink at the same time. We eventually had to add in the delays to make that work. We then embedded the Arduino and breadboard into the hat with a battery pack attached.
Check out their finished hat. It probably gets some street stares, but we think it could get even more if they hook up an EEG headband and allow thoughts to change the eyes for passers-by.
Yeah, yeah, we know you already have ideas for what you would do with our 8×8 matrix. They come in plenty of fresh flavors for whatever project you have in mind. You can get started with one of our faves — a Space Invaders Necklace. It’s a great way to blink with a single matrix and it will prep you for blinking with two.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!