Brown Hat in Nalbinding (Nålbindning)

Making hats is a god way to try new stitches in nalbinding. The stitch used this time is often called "Dalby". I found a good description of it in the book "Gamla textila tekniker i ull" by Kerstin Gustafsson. It is described in a chapter called "Nålbindning efter Maj" (Nalbinding according to Maj). The stitch is common in the Dalby-area in the north of Värmland, Sweden.

The yarn used is a loosely spun single in 100 % wool, "Samo" from Marks & Kattens. I found it a little too loose, but I got used to it. This finished result is OK and dense enough to be warm and cosy.

I made the hat "long" enough so that one can fold the bottom part of it into a cuff, to get more warmth.

When it was finished I dyed it brown, and I am very pleased with the result. I found the Dalby stitch easy to execute. Done with a thinner yarn it would probably also make excellent mittens.

Hat in nalbinding (nålbindning)

I bought fantastic yarn from Wålstedts that I wanted to test for nalbinding. It is a s-plied, 2-ply, rather thick (Nm 3/2) yarn. I needed a very warm hat so I used the yarn double while making it. The result is dense and almost wind proof. I had decided to let let the structure of the stitches show.

To get a denser result I wrapped the yarn around the needle instead of the thumb. That way I did not need to full it afterwards. The stitch I used is number one in Westman´s book "Nålbindning - 12 varianter"

Dyeing yarn for nalbinding

Time again for dyeing yarn. I have bought some yarn for nalbinding from Wålstedts (seen to the right in the picture below) and I decided to dye some of it. I also had some embroidery yarn from Rauma in natural white (seen to the left in the picture below) that I wanted to dye red, green and yellow.

The yarn from Wålstedt was grey - and I dyed it green. Dyeing on grey yarn is a favourite of mine. The result is often much more interesting than dyeing white yarn. The Rauma yarn is a very thin 2-ply spaelsau and I plan to (some time in the future) use it to decorate mittens in nalbinding).

Nalbinding (Nålbindning)

It was time again for nalbinding. I really like nalbinding - it feels so genuine and the process is so repetitive and calming. It was more than a year ago since I did some nalbinding. Since I do not want to forget how to do it I decided to make a hat.

I found some old 2-ply wool in my stash that I could "risk" (it is not possible to rip back nalbinding, so if I messed up the yarn would be lost).

This time I decided not to full the finished hat. To compensate for that (I still want a warm hat) I had to bind it tighter than usual. The stitch is "Norrtälje", a.k.a. "Brodén". It is surprisingly warm. It took 70 grams of yarn in total.