Heat, moisture, friction, and wool will felt. Doing it that way should mean you don't lose that lovely chevron pattern of the stitches too.
Where is this place? I’m not really much into weaving but I’ve been looking for a spoon carving course. If it’s close for you then it won’t be far for me either.
That sounds like an excellent weekend away! I’m sure you’ll have a great time. With nålbindning, there are loads of different stitches, but you don’t need to worry about that to start with. The main things to keep in mind are: the beginning always looks a bit bad so ignore that (can be fixed later), it always looks better when you’re on round 2, and as long as the fabric is holding together you are doing nålbinding - you might just have invented a new stitch though! ;D There are no real patterns and you’re sort of creating your own as you go using guidelines for how to achieve what you want. Once you got the hang of it, you can really see the benefits of its special characteristics. Oh and if you want to do something flat, like a seat pad, it’s a lot easier to make a wide tube and cut it up (it won’t unravel) and just tidy up the edges with some twill tape - or your tablet woven band!
Sounds like a brilliant use of the money from the crib. Tablet weaving is so much fun too and great for creating some thing that is both useful and decorative. Nålbindning is great for using up short bits of yarn and for creating thick, warm fabrics, but if you have a look at what people are doing nowadays there are plenty of lacy, airy garments being created too. Some versions of nålbindning are apparently used in Northern Africa or the Middle East to make sand shoes and camel muzzles!
Homespun yarn is great for nålbindning! Singles work well too AND you can use shorter skeins, as you’ll need to break the yarn anyway. just sayin’…I got a book on how to do it but that’s as far as I have (not) gone! I’m trying to learn to spin first.
Ah ok well as she is waiting on carpal tunnel ops on both hands i guess it might be a bad idea for her to try , we just found out that is why she gets so much pain along with raynards in her fingers , i use to just say it was her excuse to not cook lol as i made a lovely steak and kidney pie and asked her to get it out the oven for me it went face down on the kitchen floor i will say the german shepard loved his dinner that night lol ,
There’s no harm in trying it though. If you don’t have a suitable needle you can make one from an ice lolly stick and any kind of thicker yarn you have lying around. I used kitchen cotton string at first as I could unpick it and start over until I got the hang of it.
Sounds like an excellent time was had!Where do I start!!!?
The site was amazing, just a small patch of woodland bordered by a stream , set in a valley.
The lady teaching , was realy good at explaining and helping muddles out, which I had frequently, especially on the tablet weaving.
The nalbinding seemed so simple, but I found in practice a little confusing between the different stitches, but we were given a comprehensive crib sheet of several pages to help out after the course.
I'm very proud of the lovely hand made bone needle I now have, and am waiting on a friend ordering me lots of wool to be able to carry on making things.
I made a small drawstring pouch.... the original aim was to make some mittens... um
The tablet weaving was fantastic, and I've come home with a foot or so of woven braid and about to order a loom to be made by a friend who is a brill woodworker, and hoovering cones of wool up at the local charity shop.
I had the best weekend I've had in a long time, even bottle feeding a lamb, and sleeping in a small safari tent next to the river, in a proper bed. I will be working as a volunteer on the site whenever I can get up there. There is coppicing to do, and lots more to get involved with.
There are thoughts of running basic bushcraft courses too, so that's something else I can get involved with.
They are lovely people, and even came down to get me a few days before to take me round the site to make sure I could cope with the steep hill. It was a bit of a struggle, going back up, but I managed with a bit of determination and gritted teeth!
I'm still recovering from the weekend, but it was worth all the effort, and I'm definatly more into tablet weaving than nalbinding, but it was great to learn both skills.
I did a tablet weaving workshop with a lady at the bushmoot and it was so much fun! I need to get some more yarn and set up a new band at some point.
Oh, I know exactly what you mean! I’m just the same.
Mittens are probably the easiest one of the three, especially if you don’t mind them not matching exactly. Hats obviously come in many different shapes, but it’s often hard to get the size right in the beginning.
Drop spindle spinning is fun - until you get tired of dropping it on the carpet (I’m fine until I get tired, then I start having all sorts of issues like that)
Sounds like an issue with drafting the fibres. Perhaps you’re not matching the staple length well enough? I’m sure there are a tonne of videos about that on youtube…
