The hardcore fringe of nalbinding.

[harryhaller]

Thanks, Tjurved. It looks like I should make my needles larger and more tapered as well.

That cap looks great - neat, regular stitching - and very warm. With cap, mittens and socks like that one would be really warm outside in winter.

I'm really enjoying the nalbinding now - it's quite addictive, isn't it? (and I'm still only on the first row!).

 

[xylaria]

If I needed to interrupt the work I used place it on top an old fashioned wooden clothes peg. Anything the same size as your thumb will do. Here is childs pen being used on a stitch with four threads on the fingernail and one on the top.;

After a bit of practice I learned how to find where i was and which was the right side up to put the work back on the thumb.

Tjurvid does swedish have words for the parts of the thumb that are used in nalbinding. When the babelfish translates the finnish site it appears finnish has specific words for important parts of the thumb. The skill is less of a forgotten skill in scandinavia than it is here and so maybe you have better descriptive language than fingertip and fingernail. I hope everyone understands what is meant by moon and crest.

[sorry I hate over size images but I keep changing on photobucket and saving it and this is best I can do]

 

[Tjurved]

xylaria: Some around where I live in Sweden have heard of it, few of them have ever seen it and none I have met so far have actually tried it. I learned nalbinding the primitive and traditional way through the internet... There is only 4-5 books written in Swedish about nalbinding that I know about.

I like nalbinding not because it is an ancient technique but because it is fun and make very useful and durable items that requires minimal equipment that you can do yourself.

 

[xylaria]

xylaria: Some around where I live in Sweden have heard of it, few of them have ever seen it and none I have met so far have actually tried it. I learned nalbinding the primitive and traditional way through the internet... There is only 4-5 books written in Swedish about nalbinding that I know about.

I like nalbinding not because it is an ancient technique but because it is fun and make very useful and durable items that requires minimal equipment that you can do yourself.

I learnt nalebinding off the internet as well, It took me a while it was bernhard nadelbinden site which helped me finally understand it. Most books i have seen on sale are either in swedish or danish or are translations of the same books into english. The only people in britain that know of it are historical re-enactors. Shame really, the fabric that is made beats expensive walking gear, and work fits in a pocket. I make my needles out of waste bones form making the cat's food, i have also made needles out scrap plastic, I couldn't do that for either knitting or crochet.

I do think the best way to learn is see someone doing it. I found these youtube videos that show what looks like a fast way of making the toe of socks, and explains the F1 and F2 connections which I didn't really understand fully until watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McX84c67ny0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gBknsoqi8U

 

[Cobweb]

Thanks Fi, They are good, very well presented vids Even the one in German is good and a variation on your twist stitch that makes such a close weave

 

[xylaria]

Thanks Fi, They are good, very well presented vids Even the one in German is good and a variation on your twist stitch that makes such a close weave

I showed you Oslo stitch UO/UOO. That was the first stitch I learned because that what bernhards covers in depth. In theory once you can do york and oslo vertually every other stitch done on the thumb are just variants on them. I don't think nalbinding is that hard to do, it is just we are learning a skill where half the action is hidden behind a thumb and expert instruction is commonly in a foreign language. Skills have travelled through the centries inspite of language differances.

 

[harryhaller]

Yes, great links.

I've been trying out the stuff on these three sides:

http://www.flinkhand.de/index.php?nadel_freihand

http://www.flinkhand.de/index.php?aid=260

http://www.flinkhand.de/index.php?aid=261

It is helping me to understand what is going on - presumably this is how it started and then people worked out easier ways to do it! But I now understand the UOO/UUOO notation.

It's in german, but the diagrams explain themselves, I think.

I'm wondering whether that wouldn't be a better starting point for beginners, even though it is more difficult, one understands then what is going on "in the background" when one moves onto the "thumb methods".

Or maybe it's because that I don't have any previous knitting experience that I found it interesting?

 

[Cobweb]

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

Put the address into the appropriate box, choose your to and from translation and it does a bang up job of translating.

 

[xylaria]

I'm wondering whether that wouldn't be a better starting point for beginners, even though it is more difficult, one understands then what is going on "in the background" when one moves onto the "thumb methods".

Or maybe it's because that I don't have any previous knitting experience that I found it interesting?

I only learnt to knit 18 months ago, and learnt to crotchet 2 months ago. I learnt nalbind about a year ago. Knowing one didn't really help learning the others. I tried loads of ways of nalbindning I literaly tied myself in knots, I have heard of people learning their first stitch off this site , [on the bottom of the page is a link to some videos] personally I think they must some kind of genius, it is by far the most complex tradition in a language with no common ground.

The primative stitches like coptic [-/- F1B1] and buttonhole [-/-O f1] don't work on the thumb, and I found I got much tighter quicker stitches with danish [o/uo] and york [uu/ooo] if it wasn't worked on the thumb. The scandinavian stitches with the twists I have to work on a thumb, but these stitches make much thicker fabric than the primative stitches that are found further south. Saying that I found some finnish stiches but they appear to be worked off the thumb. Babelfish really chews up finnish. Also looking at acheoology finds of needles, the flat broad blunt needles are found in scandinavian, the york needles are narrower and a bit longer and pointy, the egyptian styli with eye holes were even sharper. Having made needles of the both shapes, the york needles are better worked off the thumb and the scandinavian needles work better with the thumb method. I think the thumb catch method may of only been restricted to scandinavia.

 

[peter_wheat]

Hi,
I have been trying broden stitch. I can produce a strip, but am not sure how you are supposed to connect the strip, and tie the stitch to a previous strip, to build a spiral? Anyone know?

 

[peter_wheat]

Apparently with Brodén Stitch one can use either F1 or F2 connection, ie pick up 1 or 2 loops at the edge of the previous row.

 

[Tjurved]

A good bushcraft project is to make a nalbinding needle or two. Bone or antler is great and so is harder woods. My favorite I made from compression wood from spruce. It is lighter then antler but take on a glass smooth finish. Its the third from the right.