What is Nålebinding?
For a while now I have been kind of obsessed with
nålebinding. Chances are, you have not heard of nålebinding. Nålebinding
(Danish and Norwegian that literally means "needle-binding") is an ancient fibre arts
technique for creating textiles. It is sometimes called "Viking
knitting" because of its popularity in Scandinavian countries. In English
it is also referred to as knot-less or single-needle kitting. But do not be
fooled, nålebinding is not knitting. Nor is it crochet. It is a technique
that predates both of those methods.
History
The oldest known textile fragment of Nålebinding dates from
around 6500 BCE. It was found in the Nahal Hemar Cave, in the Judean Desert.
This sample was made from plant fibres and human hair. Nålebinding fragments
have also been found in Denmark as early as 4200 BCE. Other early samples of
single-needle knitting have been found in Egypt and Peru. There is lots more on
the internet about its history, so I won't dwell on it here. Suffice it to say,
it is cool to me that people have been continually practicing this fibre art
for thousands of years!
The Project
After playing around with learning the basics and trying to
master different types of stitches, I decided to put together what I learned to
make a basic pair of mittens. Below are the materials and instructions.
Materials
The main things you need are yarn and a needle. A chunky
single-ply wool is best to start with. I have recently tried Eco Scandinavian
Chunky from Estelle Yarns. It is a super bulky yarn made from 100% organic
Scandinavian Wool and is GOTS
certified.
Nålebinding also requires a needle. Many people use large wooden or bone needles, but a large darning needle would also work. I carved my own needle out of a fallen maple branch in my yard. For these mittens I also used four stitch markers.
Step 1
Pull out around two arms lengths of yarn and break the yarn with your hands (rather than cut with scissors). This will be important later. Thread the needle on the long end of the yarn.
The are many ways to begin, but I like to start by making a
slip knot near one end of the yarn.
Unlike knit and crochet, nålebinding does not work off the
ball, you work with short segments of yarn. To join new pieces of yarn to old,
fray both ends of the yarn. Lay the two fuzzy ends over each other and wet with
a bit of water. Rub the ends between your hands to felt the yarn. This will
bind the ends together as one.
Step 2 - Getting ready for stitches
Put your thumb through the loop with the knot sitting on the pad of your thumb.
With your thumb facing away from you, drape the long end of the yarn over your thumb as shown below.
Run the needle through the loop on your thumb and under the yarn that was draped over your thumb.
Pull the yarn taut so that you now have two loops on your thumb.
Repeat so that you have three loops on your thumb. Now you are ready to start making stitches.
Step 3 - Making the foundation row
For these mittens you will be using only one type of stitch. The stitch is known as a Finnish 2 + 1. The "Finnish" denotes where the stich originates, the "2" denotes how many loops are on the thumb, and the "1" denotes how many loops are to be picked up behind the thumb.
To begin, push the topmost loop so that it forms a "halo" around the top of your thumb. This loop is now technically behind your thumb.
Push the end of the needle through the halo loop away from you. Twist the needle towards yourself and push the needle down through the two loops on your thumb and the free yarn over your thumb. Tighten up the yarn once again, forming three loops on your thumb.
When you push the top loop off your thumb this time, you will see that it forms a loop. Repeat by putting needle through the loop as you did the halo loop previously.
After two stitches, you will see two loops.
And so on....
It looks a bit messy to begin with, but don't worry. Once you have several stitches done, you can pull the short end of the work revealing the work. You should see a pattern like the ones below.
A single row like this is often called a foundation row, since it will be the foundation for the rows to come.
Step 4 - Increasing and Turning
Once the length of the foundation row is about the width of
your four fingers, it is time to turn the work.
Tip: Write down how many stitches you did. You will want to make the same number on the other mitten.
Hold the end of the work between your finger and pick up the last two edge switches (sometimes called from the braid) from bottom to top. Picking up stitches like this, from bottom to top, is considered picking them up from the Front.
The work will now look like this.
Since you are going around a corner, you need to go through the last two braid stitches again. This same method is used when you want to increase stitches.
Continue working along the row. Each time you will take the last connected stitch and the stitch to its right.
Continue along the row until you get to the end. Go around the end by increasing twice in the final stitch.
After these stitches, it will look like this.
Step 4 - Down to the Thumb
Continue working in a rounds. I like to put a stich
marker on the inner and outer edges to show me where to increase.
Alternatively, lay the work flat to identify the farthest stitches for the
inner and outer part of your hand.
Test with your hand as you go. I found that increasing one stitch on the inner and outer part of the mitten worked well for my hand. If you started with a longer first row, you may not need as many increases. Continue until it reaches the base of your thumb.
Step 5 - Making the Thumb Opening
To make the thumb, first you will need to make a hole where the thumb rows will eventually go. You will come back and add on the thumb rows at the very end.
Work foundation stitches just like you did at the very
beginning. These stitches will not be connected to the
previous rows. This is how it would look with your hand inside facing palm
up.
And the back side would look something like this.
To figure out how long to make this segment, put the mitten on your hand and wrap the row around the base of your thumb. Continue working until it is long enough to reach up to the main part of the mitten. The more stitches you do, the bigger the thumb hole will be. Mark the stitch on the main part where you will join the row.
Tip: Count how many foundation stitches you did for the thumb segment and write it down. Also write down how many stitches there are between the last connected stitch and the stitch marker. You will want to have the same number on the other mitten.
Step 6 - Continuing to the Cuff
At the stitch marker, continue working around the mitten as
before.
As you move down over your wrist, decrease two stitches on each side on
each row. You may want to use stitch markers in a similar way to the top part
of the mitten. Continue until the mitten is the length of your choice.
To finish off, pull the last last loose stiches tight and
bind off. Sew in the loose end.
Step 6 - Working the Thumb
To work the thumb, you will need to join in a new piece of yarn. Pull the yarn through a stitch near the inner part of the thumb hole. Leave a short tail. This will be sewn in later.
Pick up two loops from the front as you did when working the rows. As you pull the yarn tight, allow the yarn to wrap over your thumb.
Pick up one new stitch as well as the stitch you just made. As you pull the yarn tight, allow the yarn to wrap over your thumb. You should now have two loops around your thumb.
Repeat once more. This will give you three loops.
Continue to work your way around the thumb opening as you did with the rest of the mitten. When you get to the section between rows pick up the stitch in between the rows.
The next stitch you pick up will be on the other row.
Continue to go around the thumb hole. Decrease every 3 or 4 stitches to make the thumb hole smaller. Once it is a suitable diameter. Keep going around until it is almost the length of your thumb.
Using the needle, pick up all the stitches from the last "row".
Once you have all the stitches, draw the yarn through them and pull tight. This will cinch in and close off the end of the thumb.
You are now done! Tie off the end of the thumb on the inside and work in all of the loose ends.
Learn More
Nålbinding:
A Short History of an Ancient Craft, Spinoff Magazine 2022.
A
brief history of Nalebinding
Nålebinding at the Royal Ontario Museum, 2019
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