The content here has been moved from my old blog (which now redirects here). I never kept the blog up to date. This is a lot easier. 🙂
About
Early in 2024, my wife (a keen knitter, crocheter, weaver, and all that sort of thing) asked me if I’d ever heard of a craft called nålbinding. I hadn’t. I’ve also never really shown an interest in learning to knit or similar, despite growing up with a grandmother who explained what a darning mushroom was, and a mother who used to knit clothes for us. “It’s Viking knitting, or something,” said my wife. “Hold my brew,” I replied.
I’ve always been interested in learning things by doing, and especially interested in early-medieval history, and even earlier periods such as the Iron and Bronze Ages. The prospect of learning something that goes back thousand of years and that very few people actually do, really floats my longboat. So I dug into it.
After a few months of trial and error (and lots and lots of online videos) I started up this blog to show what I’m doing, the mistakes I’m making, the yarn I’m using, the projects I’m undertaking, and to share what I’ve learnt. I hope you find it useful.
So…What is Nålbinding?
If you’re here, you probably have an idea. Your best bet is, as always, its Wikipedia entry. Also, check out the Heritage Craft page on Nålbinding.
Nålbinding is a way of using a single, blunt needle (the naal) to create a strong textile from lengths of yarn and loops. Unlike knitting, which typically uses a single length of yarn, nålbinding involves working with short (2-3 metre) lengths and then joining them with felting or knots. It’s common to “work in the round” as well, so nålbinding is great for making bags, hats, socks and other functional items.
There are many types of stitches we use when nålbinding, which are typically named after the location where archaeological evidence of the stitch was first found. A lot of these are Scandinavian names, such as Oslo and Mammen. The oldest example we have of this craft goes back to 6500 BCE.