About Nalbinding

So, nalbinding!

This is what I've dug up, in my search for something to do with the yarn I spin.

Nalbinding has been traditionally used to make mittens, socks, and hats, but other items can and have been made, such as pennants and rugs.

Two to three yard lengths of yarn are used with a needle in looping patterns to create chains which can be connected in spirals or tubes to create fabric. Loops are done on the thumb or other gauge or tensioned by eye. Nalbinding creates a fabric that does not unravel when cut. The fabric can be quite thick and warm, and felts well.

Nalbinding is a technique that predates knitting. Nalbinding may also predate the use of drop spindles which produce long continuous yarns, because the short lengths of yarn needed for nalbinding could be spun with the hand on the thigh or with a twisty-stick (stick with hook at the end, rolled on the thigh).

There are a number of different stitches, named for the places where nalbinding fragments were discovered. Patterns are described as a series of unders and overs with connector stitches. For example, the Mammen stitch is UOO/UUOO F2. Stitches are worked right to left, that is, you start with F2 which is catching two loops from the chain you have already made and then you go over, over, under, under, reach the centre of the loop, over, over, under.

Nalbinding is better learned by watching than from a book, imho.

some videos in Finnish: http://www.vajanto.net/gradu/

videos in English:
York stitch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gBknsoqi8U&feature=channel_page
York stitch with F1 and F2 connector http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McX84c67ny0&feature=channel_page

some videos in German(?): http://www.myvideo.de/watch/4902271/Nadelbinden_Der_Cross_Dalby_Stich and http://www.myvideo.de/watch/829122/Der_Asle_Weaver_Stich

video in Swedish (?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10xNxH_Itxs&feature=channel_page

My next steps are to find out if I can make something useful with nalbinding and to find out what sort of yarn to spin for nalbinding.