The title made me think of knitting needles with sensors that some home tied into a game but this textile printer is really cool. Imagine handing your classmate a custom-printed scarf during recess.
I don't think this "printed" in any recognizable sense of the term. From the picture, it was a non-electronic device which had one-directional communication with the console by mechanically pressing buttons on a standard controller. So presumably, you had to operate the thing by hand, and it would use the NES to give you feedback about what to do at each step.
Yeah I was wondering how it controlled the printer too, this makes more sense.
They could have had a hit if they added some more engagement for the user, make it like a game, you can get scores based on how good you followed the knitting instructions...