Behold the story of the creation of two nalbound hats, entered in the Passing of the IceDragon A&S Pentathlon AS52; Category: Fib5 Nalbinding. The hats originated from two questions: can energized yarn (a common beginners mistake) still make something useful? is it practical to re-purpose warp-weighted loom waste for nalbinding? Both questions were answered with a resounding yes, and I have a suspicion not only could WW loom waste easily be used, but that this is what it was used for.
What is nalbinding
Nalbinding is a textile technique usually done with a needle
and thread, in which loops are connected to form a fabric. As opposed to
working with a needle and tread as a seamstress or embroiderer to mend or
embellish existing fabric, someone using nalbinding is creating new fabric. It
is a technique still found practiced in many (lesser developed) parts of the
world. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 9)
Selected historic
finds from Scandinavian context
The oldest nalbound fragment, supposedly a piece of a mesh
sieve made of plant fibers, is from a cave in Israel, Nahal Hemar, approximately
6500 BCE. Fragments found in Denmark
date from 4200 BCE. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 32; neulakintaat.fi)
Cloak tab with silver and gold nalbound decoration from 10th
century Mammen, Denmark.
In a grave of a man buried with expensive clothes in Mammen, Denmark
(970-971 CE) were found pieces of nalbinding in gold and silver wrapped silk threads.
(Iversen 1991,132)
10th century nalbound sock from York / Yorvik, UK.
An intricate Viking Age artifact is the nalbound sock
discovered during the Coppergate excavations in York from 1976-81. Archaeologists from York
Archaeologist Trust (YAT) were surveying the ground underneath a demolished
factory ahead of the shopping centre being built, and discovered incredibly
well-preserved remains of streets in the principal Northern city of Viking
Britain. Waterlogged, oxygen-free soil had stopped not only 1000-year-old
timbers from rotting away, but had also preserved a huge selection of Viking artifacts,
large and small. The stitch type used in this sock has not been found
anywhere else, so it is called York Stitch or Coppergate Stitch (also Jorvik
Stitch), based on the place where it was found. (yorkarchaeology)
Finnish Viking Age nalbound mittens.
Another Viking
Age find from Finland
includes mittens made with nalbinding. The find also included a pair of shields
and helmets, a pair of shoulder brooches on the shoulder, a pair of chain
cuffs, a pair of twisted cuff links, bronze twisted ribbons, and two rings on
each hand. On basis of the jewelry and money, tomb 56 is dated to the very end
of the Vikings. Possibly, English money outside the neckline is from coins of
the youngest tomb. The coins were beaten in 1018 AD. (translated from Finnish
by author; Vajanto 2003, 22, 24)
[above] An 11th century mitten found in Oslo, Norway.
It is made using the Oslo
stitch, the same stitch I used on my hats. The material of the mitten is
unknown, but likely wool. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 46)
[below] The nalbound hat of Saint Simeon, from Trier, Germany
of around 1000 AD. The material of the hat is undyed wool. The linen fabric and
tablet woven border on the edge were added later. The hat was believed to
provide a miracle cure for headaches. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 49)
My project
I made two nalbound hats using the Oslo stitch. One hat is made from homespun
dyed and undyed wool, plied into an energized 3 ply for a stretchy hat. The
other is made from commercial single ply warp-weighted loom waste, plied into a
4 ply. It is thought that because of the nature of the nalbinding technique,
which uses short pieces of yarn as opposed to a continuous yarn like knitting, nalbinding
would be a great way to re-purpose loom waste that otherwise would be too short
for use.
Hat number one:
I used my first hand spun yarn for this hat (California red roving a
friend had processed). As I had a bunch of small dyed balls of roving lying
around from a previous Natural Dyeing A&S practice I decided to spin that,
about twice the diameter as the white single, to ply together to create a
pleasing visual texture. I used my brand new spinning wheel to wind the white
single on two bobbins, and the colored single on one, and then plied all three
together to make a 3 ply yarn. Unfortunately, I had misunderstood the plying
instructions and added twist in the same direction both times. This resulted in
quite an energized yarn (more like an elastic band, than a yarn!) full of rat
tails. I figured, stretch in a hat is not a bad thing, so let’s make this a
learning moment, and go with what I have... and as I hoped, it indeed made an
awesome stretchy hat, which fits many heads.
The dye colors came from several different dye baths,
including madder, cochineal, copper, iron, onion, logwood, tumeric, black
walnut etc. The dyes were all leftovers from the 2017 Gulf Wars fiber classes
which I brought back up North for a natural dyeing A&S practice.
Hat number two:
I used loom waste singles of about 3 feet long, this is a
typical length for loom waste from a warp-weighted loom as there is quite some length
between the top heddle bar (above which is woven) and the hanging weights.
First I tried with a 3 ply, but the grey loom waste singles
are thin and with my bone needle (the width determines the loop diameter) it
made for an open structure. Next I made a 4 ply and that worked well. At first
I plied them with a drop spindle and set them in hot water, but when I realized
they would twist themselves, I just put them in hot water in a bundle of four
by themselves to twist and turn to their hearts content. It made very nice,
fluffy yarn and worked beautifully with my bone needle. I added a small white
trim as that was the yarn I used in the selvage of my weave.
Working on the second hat – the beginning top circle.
The Oslo Stitch
After taking several classes on nalbinding, none of which
took, I got lucky with a hand out my sister shared with me. The images in the
handout did it, and I learned I do not nalbind using my thumb, which is what
most classes teach. I keep the loop between my fingers and use the gauge or
diameter of the bone needle to determine loop width.
The Oslo
stitch is a simple stitch, described with O/UO: this means ‘over’ / ‘under,’
‘over’ or the needle goes first over the thread of the loop (or bottom row of
stitches), then under, and then over again of the previously made stitch.
From 'Basic Naalbinding:' the beginning steps
to make a circular loop using the O/UO Oslo
stitch. This loop would become the top of the hat (the tail is pulled to the
inside).
Forming shapes with the nalbound technique is a matter of
adding a second stitch to a loop, or skipping a loop (stitching two at the same
time). This will increase or decrease the diameter of the fabric. It takes a
bit more attention to make a flat hat, than it does to make the typical pointed
Viking ‘Hershey’ hat. I made one of both for this project.
Both hats on display.
Observations:
- energized yarn makes awesome hats
- I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to ply singles,
and what a nice yarn it makes
- loom waste is great for making nalbound projects
Next up, I am challenging myself to make socks, like the
Yorvik sock shown earlier in the documentation. It will be interesting to see
if I can make a matching set.
Side note:
Yes, I made the bone needle myself. I used a metal hack saw
to cut strips from the leg bone, a file to shape it to a point, and sand
paper. The hole was drilled prior to filing, and then sanded out. It is from
the leg bone of one of our backyard goats. I find bone needles to handle more pleasantly than metal or smooth wood, especially if the bone still has some file marks to give it texture.
Previously published in the AEthelmearc Gazette as Nalbound Hats:
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2018/04/27/nalbound-hats/
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ulrike Claßen-Büttner (2015) Nalbinding What in the World is That? History and Technique of an
Almost Forgotten Handicraft. Norderstedt:
Books on Demand (BOD).
Sarah Goslee (undated) Basic
Naalbinding
Mette Iversen (ed.) (1991) Mammen Grav, kunst og samfund I vinkinetid. Jysk Arkaeologisk
Selskabs Skrifter XXVIII I kommission hos Aarhus Universitetsforlag. Højbjerg, Denmark:
Jysk Arkaeologisk Selskabs.
Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha (undated) History of Nalbinding
Krista Vajanto (Master’s thesis) (2003) EURAN EMÄNNÄN NEULAKINTAAT, TUTKIELM A
LUISTARIN HAUDAN 56 NE ULAKINNAS FRAGME
NTEISTA (Euran Shoulder Needles, research from the fragments of the area of
Luistar Hauda 56) Kulttuurien tutkimuksen laitos Arkeologian oppiaine.
Artefacts discovered
during the Coppergate excavations in York
1976-81
https://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/resources/picture-library/picture-library-2/viking-age-coppergate/
JORVIK Viking Centre
brings the Vikings to life in York
once again (2017)
IMAGES
York
sock image (as the museum images are now only for sale)
Oslo
stitch mitten (probably from Nordland 1961, and also on page 45 of
Claßen-Büttner 2015)
Hat of saint simeon (image from Claßen-Büttner 2015, 49 but
in color).
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