Needles for Nalbinding (Nålbindningsnålar)

I have made needles for nalbinding with the help of my brother in law who has access to some woodworking machines. I asked him to prepare some pieces of wood, as blanks, so that I could make some needles for nalbinding. I did the shaping and the final "finish".

These four are made from ash. In old Nordic mythology the immense tree Yggdrasil was an ash tree. Since nalbinding in Sweden goes back to the Viking era I find it fitting to have needles made from an Ash tree.

These three are made from Beech. 

 These are made from wood from Thailand. I do not know the species.

Cowl in Tunisian Crochet

This cowl is made in Tunisian Crochet. I had thought of knitting a scarf but then got the idea to try Tunisian crochet instead. While planning the idea changed from a scarf to a cowl - since I like to make Tunisian crochet in the round. I was a bit hesitant about how to begin the cowl since I was not sure how to make a beginning that would not curl ... so I knitted a couple of rows in [1 knit, 1 purl] and after that I continued in Tunisian crochet.

The yarn used is dyed Blue Faced Leicester from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (about 170 grams for this cowl). They have yarns in fantastic colours and if they had been situated within the EU I would buy lots and lots from them. I am very pleased with this cowl. I got the drape that I wanted and the yarn is very smooth and warm.

I used a double-ended crochet hook size 5,00 mm for this project.

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).