Hand made nals for nål binding both from cherry wood. One on the left has been used, one on the right has not.
I made myself a new nal for nålbinding; a little longer and with two holes so I can work with longer lengths of yarn. I thought it was interesting that the previous nal darkened so much after just two projects. I made them both from cherry wood, both from scraps from the same plank.
Hollowed out eyes, to better allow yarn to pass through the work
I saw another crafter with a nal that had been hollowed out behind the eyes. I like that this helps the yarn pass through the loops better, so I used a small gouge to do that to my nals as well.
Yes. I took the pictures on my calico. She was handy.
I am continuing my nålbinding practice. I used up more scraps of wool yarn in my stash to make a hat! It has a slightly pointy top; I need to work on making flat circles, but I’ve seen several pictures of nålbound hats with a pointy top, so I’m going to call it a design choice (as in I chose not to pick out the stitches and try again). There is a time to unravel and a time to push through. Mostly I push through!
Wool hat made with the Mammen nålbinding stitch
I’m glad I did push through on this, because it seems like it will be a good warm hat. The last rows are made of soft merino wool, which really makes it comfortable to wear. And I love the ear flaps! My ears are usually cold walking in the winter. I love the spiral construction, and I figured out how to finish and blend in the final stitches. Now to go raid the yarn stash and see what else I can use up.
My name is Caryn and I’m addicted to Pinterest. I console myself in that I don’t just pin, I do make things inspired by what I find (not sure that is mitigating, though).
My cat likes nålbinding better than knitting because there is more room on my lap and she doesn’t get tapped with needles
I get many needle craft pins rolling across my feed, and have been seeing the word nålbinding (or naalbinding, or nalbinding) for some time. I pinned one, then decided to delve deeper and found a website by Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha full of interesting information. Nålbinding is basically using a needle to make connected loops to form a fabric. The needle she used looked very familiar, so I went through my stash (which is made up of items inherited from both sides of my and my husband’s families), and found handmade needles of bone and wood. The bone needle’s eye was cracked, so I didn’t want to risk trying to use that, so I started with the wooden (possibly diamond willow) needle. This turned out to be too sharp for the homespun (possibly) wool I also found in my stash. So I made my own needle fashioned from scrap cherry wood left over from spoon making. The flat wide shape is actually easier to use for nålbinding.
Hand made needles
What appealed to me with this technique of fabric creation (aside from the fact that I didn’t have to buy materials to try it), is that it predates knitting and crocheting and variations have been used all over the world, for possibly over 8,000 years (according to Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha, the oldest nalbinding fragment was found in Israel and dates from about 6500 BCE).
I actually quite like this technique. It feels like sewing, but creates a thick sturdy fabric with an interesting texture. It builds somewhat like crochet, but does not unravel (picking out stitches is a bear, let me tell you).
After a few discarded starts, I settled into making a small bag. I tried a couple stitches (certainly not all of them, there are over a thousand variations), but liked the Finnish stitch 1 + 2 (also known as the Mammen stitch) with the materials I had. I am not entirely sure how to finish a piece, so I continued the stitches to make a strap, then sewed the end down the side.
Finished nålbound bag
The bag is about the size of my cell phone and used up all the remains of the skein of yarn. A stash buster!
Critters and Craft 