One-needle knitting brings forth intricacies

I never know what’s going to come in off the street and grab my needleworking attention. Earlier this summer it was a friend from Orono bearing a scrap of intricately worked off-white yarn she said was an example of nalbinding – this is the English spelling, there are other variations, such as naalbinding and nalbindning – or one-needle knitting. She said Bill Coperthwaite of Machiasport had made that little scrap of nalbinding. Coperthwaite, a builder, designer and writer, is known for living in a yurt, seeking a simpler way of life and fashioning things by hand from wood and other materials.

Well, nalbinding was news to me, so I did what anyone would do when confronted with such an oddity – a Web search. This is what I learned: Apparently, before people learned to knit on two needles, they used one – and it had an eye – just like a sewing needle. Or at least that’s what textile historians have ascertained after examining and studying the few ancient pieces of nalbinding still in existence.

Nalbinding fabric is made with a looping technique that at its most basic has been described as resembling a series of detached buttonhole stitches. The technique was used by Vikings and other Nordic peoples, to make items that could be worked in the round, like socks, hats, mittens and bags.

The technique is known to northern European cultures by other names, including Great Britain where it is called knotless netting. (Ever notice how close in pronunciation the words knitting and netting are?)

Information at www.regia.org, referring to the technique as naalbinding, points out that two examples of mittens from the Viking period of history were found in Iceland and that nalbinding fragments have been found in graves in Finland. Other examples of nalbinding have been found as far afield as Denmark and Egypt. Examples from the medieval period of history have been found in Finland, Russia, Poland and Sweden.

For those who want to learn the technique, methods of constructing nalbinding socks are posted at www.shelaghlewins.com. Shelagh Lewins’ Web site is devoted to many things Viking. Her instructions for nalbinding socks are amply illustrated with drawings that explain how to thread the needle, how to make the beginning circle of stitches (which reminds me a little of tatting), how to do the “Oslo stitch” and how to make several different types of heels.

A search for “Oslo stitch” yielded photos of various nalbinding stitches at www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/nalebind.html.

Links at http://cunnan.sca.org.au/wiki/Naalbinding takes one to photos of contemporary nalbinding socks and mittens, and photos of needles the maker used. One of those links, www.dilettante. info/nalbindingpages/osloprimer/oslopriner1.htm gives step-by-step instructions for the Oslo stitch, which is formed by looping the yarn around one’s thumb and pulling the yarn back through subsequent loops.

Nalbiniding probably isn’t for everyone, but its intricacies are sure to appeal to those seeking unusual ways to work with yarn.

Snippets

. Librarian Rachel Tremblay has made a four-patch quilt in a marine theme that is being raffled to benefit the story time program at Bingham Union Library in Bingham. Tickets are $1 and available at the library. For more information, call Tremblay at 672-3002.

. “Mama Disait,” paper and found objects collage by artist Rhea Cote Robbins of Brewer is on display through Nov. 27 at the Hudson Museum, Maine Center for the Arts, Orono. Some of Robbins’ pieces in the exhibit have themes that will delight those who enjoy needlework. Quilters also will find the exhibit of interest because of the “pieced” elements of the work. Call the museum at 581-1901 to learn more about the exhibit.

. The U.S. Postal Service has issued stamps bearing images of the quilts of Gee’s Bend, Ala., made by African-American women of limited means and little or no instruction in quilting. These colorful and interesting quilts have been the subject of national attention and displayed at museums nationwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Similar quilts from a private collection were displayed at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor last year.

. The SAD 22 Adult Ed Program offers primitive rug-hooking and scrapbooking classes at Reed’s Brook School. Call 862-6422 to obtain more information.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.