Third Nalbinding Project -- Björsbo Stitch beanie/hat

Nalbinding Project #3 -- another hat, this time in Björsbo stitch.  It's also a very short hat, stopping above the ears.  I haven't decided if I'm going to add more length or not.

These are from oddballs, single ply and fairly bulky.  The gray is what's left after I finished the Oslo hat.  The other yarn is mauve/lavender, unknown composition though I assume mostly acrylic.

I did a slip-knot loop and put in about 14-16 stitches then pulled it snug.

Round 1: double the stitches

Round 2: 1 stitch, 1 increase

Round 3: 2 stitches, 1 increase

Round 4: 3 stitches, 1 increase.

The hat top was very flat and even ruffling a bit by this point.  And I must admit that I wasn't always careful about counting or figuring out when a new round started.

I then continued with no further decreases.  When I ran out of mauve and tried on the hat, I decided that maybe it was a bit large.  I counted the stitches and had around 80.  So, with the gray, I did some decreases -- 10 stitches on the first round and 8 on the next.  That was all the gray yarn I had, though I was done with the decreases anyway.

It fits like a skullcap or a little fez/beanie thing, not quite coming down to the ears.  A friend said that some people like this size since they don't want their ears covered.

So this little hat might be done.  Or, if my friend tries it on and says it needs to be bigger, it's not done, and I'll add another round or two in a different yarn.

If it was made of wool, felting it and flipping it over to become a basket would be a very reasonable possibility.

I do like the texture of this stitch, both the front and the reverse.

The method of tucking in the new yarn end and overlapping the last stitch of the old yarn end seems reasonably secure so far.  I have a few small bits to tuck in, no big deal.

This many stitches and this rate of increases is perhaps a bit too aggressive for a hat, at least with this yarn and this stitch.

Colorful stripes are cute.

I should come up with a better system for keeping track of the beginning and end of the round and also focus when actual counting is necessary.

What next?  Maybe more Oslo stitch items, since I'm apparently going to be teaching an intro to nalbinding class in November and will start with Oslo stitch.  Having a few things in Oslo stitch for show and tell could be good.

I also want to make more hats so might well do hats in various stitches.  Fåberg or Korben/Mammen would be a reasonable next stitch to use for a project.

My friend handed me some 3D printed tablets to evaluate.  So I guess I need to see if I can set up something to test the tablets soon!

Another friend I hung out with today had a large pile of plastic crafting needles.  I was given a few in different sizes and lengths.  I like them better than my metal yarn tapestry needle, so now I have started my own collection of nalbinding needles.  I'll probably get some 3D printed ones from my 3D-printing friend and hopefully can play around with making my own out of wood.

Second Nalbinding Project -- Björsbo Stitch Pouch

My second project!  It's a little pouch.  I wanted to try the flat/oval start, and I wanted to play with a new stitch.

Here's the reverse side, which is also extremely cute.

The yarn is some random oddball, obviously variegated.  It's a 2-ply acrylic that is fairly thick.  I used a bit more than an ounce and have about a quarter ounce left.

I'm not 100% sure it's the right size.  I might add a bit more.  Or undo a round of stitches.  Or leave it as is.  I'll probably use a drawstring closure if/when I add one.

The Björsbo stitch is very similar to Oslo stitch.  Oslo is UO/UOO F1, and Björsbo is UO/UOU F1.  When making the new thumb loop, the working yarn goes over rather than under itself.  That's the only difference.  It still goes through the back loop from front to back, then twists and goes under the old front-of-thumb loop.  It's also called a Finnish 1+1 stitch with a plaited edge.

The site where I saw this stitch is here: https://en.neulakintaat.fi/109.  The site author says that the stitch is known from Björsbo and also from the Carelian Isthmus of Finland.  It's also somewhere in the middle of this page: https://needlebinding.com/asle-stitch/ 

I like the horizontal ridges of the front side and the pebbly texture of the back side.  I am pretty sure I'll use this stitch again.  I wonder what it will look like in a monochrome single-ply, similar to the hat I did in Oslo stitch?

The flat start went fairly smoothly, too, though as usual, it took a few tries.  I did a chain with a Likely Number of stitches, then started down one side of the foundation chain.  I skipped a few of the chain stitches to act as a turning chain, similar to crochet.  When I got to the other end, I did 3 stitches into the starting loop of the chain to make the turn and then went back down the other side of the foundation chain.  I think I did the same kind of 3-in-1 increase when I got back to the other side.  And then I just kept going in the usual spiral.

To join new yarn, I ran the tail of the new yarn through some old stitches, then went through the same path as the old yarn (more or less) and kept going, tucking in the end of the old yarn over the next few stitches.  It seems to work pretty well though I wasn't always careful about the path I used to tuck in the tail of the new yarn.

The pouch is big enough for my cellphone and more beyond.  Or big enough for a large tarot deck.  Or a small notebook and a pen.  At some point, hopefully, I'll record the dimensions and stitch gauge and number of stitches and rounds.

I'm not sure what I'll do next.  York stitch, since it too is so similar to Oslo?  Another hat either in Oslo or Björsbo?  A project in Mammen or Korgen or Fåberg or Finnish 2+2?  Simple looping or looping with a twist or Danish?  So many possibilities.  And that's just the really simple stitches.  There are entire stitch families I have yet to explore.

Today I went to a handweavers guild sale.  I picked up some wool yarns that might be suitable for nalbinding, or maybe for knitting or weaving.  Dunno how I'm going to make sure they don't have moths.  We're done with really hot weather for the summer so inside my car on a hot day is not an option.  My freezer is too small.  And I've not had good luck with the oven method.  Most are caked up so washing isn't a great option, either, since I don't want to skein and rewind everything if not absolutely necessary.  Putting them in the dryer, possibly in a mesh bag, is probably also a bad idea.

I also found a few fun books and booklets.  They had the Adele Cahlander monograph on Bolivian Tubular Edgings.  They had Linda Hendrickson's book on Tubular Tabletwoven Necklaces.  And they had a few printouts of very old things (either Strands or a newsletter) from the Braid Society.  I don't remember if there was anything else.  I had hoped to find some weaving tools but there wasn't much left by the time I got there and nothing appealed. 

Linda Hendrickson's book is more like her little pamphlets in terms of content.  But that's OK -- for the sake of completeness it's fun to have.

I have some of the same info from elsewhere that the Adele Cahlander monograph goes over, but it's very nice to have what may well be the original source.  She uses a charting style that is similar to the way she charts patterns in her book on sling braiding.

And that's it from me today.

Little braiding and nalbinding twiddles

I've been playing around with nalbinding stuff, not really starting a new project yet, but exploring various stitches and technique/ergonomics ideas.

Many get unraveled and then I do something else.  But I still have the above two twiddles and I'd better record them before they too get unraveled.

I'm pretty sure the top one (brown) is Finnish 2+2.  (But maybe it's not?)  I tried some F2 and also F1 connecting stitches though those have been unraveled.  The bottom one (mostly white) is Mammen stitch -- 1 +2 F2.  I've also done some Korgen (1+2 F1) and Fåberg (2+1 F2, though I also played with F1) and also tried couple of others though I don't remember exactly what.  Did I do them "correctly"?  Eh, who knows.  I'm still a bit shaky on identifying loops at times.

At some point, I'll do York (aka Coppergate/Jorvik), but people seem to have a lot of strong negative opinions about this stitch and how it behaves.  A few people love it, of course.  But the ones who don't love it are vocal in their annoyance with the stitch.  It twists like crazy and is very loose.  Some of the looseness can be dealt with by tensioning/tightening the stitch on the needle.  I'm not sure about the twist -- I've seen some pics of pieces that look fine (mostly with a center start) and others where the person said that steam blocking had been necessary to get it to lie flat.   What I like about it is that it is so similar to Oslo stitch in how it's made, especially using one's thumb, and yet the stitch ends up looking and behaving rather differently.

I also want to play around with some of the really simple stitches that aren't much more complicated than a single loop, whether it's independent of its neighbors or does a loop-and-twist (such as the ones Sally Pointer shows in her youtube channel, or bilum string bags) or connects with the previous loop (Danish stitch).   The York stitch seems to be like that except that it seems to go through the two previous loops instead of one, though maybe I'll change my mind on that if/when I do it.

I'm not sure what other stitches I want to play around with in these fairly simple stitch families before attempting more complicated stitches.

I want to do another project soon.  I'm thinking a bag.  So.  That probably means doing an oval/flat start.  Yay, a new skill!  I can do center starts and cylinders already.  What stitch shall I use?  Hmmm.  Another hat would be good, too.

A question, which I can either try myself or look up to see if someone else has tried it -- is it possible (or desirable) to do the equivalent of a three-needle-bind-off in nalbinding?  In other words, can I take two pieces/sides of nalbinding and join them together with a connection stitch that takes a loop from the front and back pieces before (or as part of) making the next stitch? And if so, what does it look like, inside and out?  Maybe pick up loop from front piece, go through loop(s) behind thumb, pick up loop from back piece, finish the stitch by making a new thumb loop?

I also taught my first class in nalbinding earlier this week.  Yes, with approximately one week of experience, I taught people who were new.  They agreed to be guinea pigs knowing that I was a near novice who wanted to test my own understanding.  It went reasonably well, though each student had a point where they were ready to give up, hated everything and everyone, etc.

One person had 3D printed a few needles, which worked beautifully.  They had little cats on them and the hold for the yarn was in the shape of a heart.  So cute!  I didn't take any home, but now I know where and how I can get my own nalbinding needle(s) instead of using the metal yarn tapestry needle.

I wanted to teach Oslo stitch and hopefully get to the point where people could join their foundation chain into a cylindrical spiral piece.  We didn't get quite that far.  So that was good for me to understand.  There really does come a point in a class where people's brains are full and they don't want anything else before they process what they've just learned.

One person came up with an interesting variant on Oslo stitch.  Instead of flicking the old thumb stitch off the thumb to become the next behind-the-thumb loop, the person put the new thumb stitch over the old one, then flicked off the old one over the new one.  It adds an extra twist to the loop and tightens up the gauge.  I'm going to keep my eyes open as I start learning more stitches to see if I can recognize this as a known variant.  I'm also going to try it myself and see if I can wrap my brain around what it looks like in the Hansen-style notation.

Another thing we all though useful -- start with a smooth thick-ish cord such as macrame cord, and have everyone do the stitch maneuvers until they could identify which loop was which and what path the working yarn was taking.  After that, it was easier for people to return to fluffy yarn where they were using needles and all the loops and working yarn and everything are shifting and flopping around in all directions.  The existing loops shifting and the yarn flopping around in all directions and not being sure which end was which and where it ought to be is one of the big challenges for the new nalbinder.  I still struggle with it at times.

So.  If I teach nalbinding, how do I get people to the point where they can start making something in a class that is no more than 1-2 hours?  A series of classes rather than one?  Forcing people to turn their chains into cylinders even if they're not ready, especially if we're running out of class time?  Hand out a list of my favorite videos/websites/books and tell them they're on their own?

------------------------

In other string-related stuff, I did a quick sample of the Skjoldehamn braid, a 12-stranded braid in the twill style (i.e. elements go over/under more than 1 other element).  The real braid uses 2 strands for each braiding element.  Mine is a simple experiment so I did single strands.  I used two colors to help me keep track of things better as well as to show the braid structure more clearly.

I'm doing it freehand, nothing tensioning it beyond me adjusting the braid tension after each pass.  I did a few complete repeats and then got bored.  Dunno if I'll do anything more with how it's set up now or if I'll try a different braid or braids, change around the colors and then resume this braid, etc.

The Skjoldehamn 12-strand braid:  The outer element on the right goes over 3 and under 2.  The outer element on the left goes over 4 and under 2.  Repeat.  You don't really have to count the 3 and 4 -- just go under the 2 strands closest to the center.

Now I can check that off my list of things to try.  I could teach this at a class pretty easily -- it's a very straightforward braid.

----------------

I still have my long want-to-do list and need-to-do list.  Dunno what'll happen next.  But I really do want to be able to comfortably teach a nalbinding class.  And I want to continue learning, make more real things, and all that stuff.  I might even want to make my own needles from random twigs and prunings that can be found in my area.

First Nalbinding Project -- the Classic Oslo Stitch Hat

I think it's done.  I'll let it sit for a while to be sure, but it fits and is long enough to cover the ears.  If I make it much longer, it may start becoming a slouchy hat instead, which is not what I've intended.

As I wrote in an earlier post, the yarn is a fairly thick single ply yarn, Aran or bulky weight.

My joins aren't always smooth.  Hopefully some of that will even out with time.

But I like it.  I always thought that nalbinding looked crude and primitive compared to knitting, but it has definitely grown on me over the years.  The texture now strikes me as interesting.  That's true in knitting, too -- I'm now a lot fonder of seed stitch and moss stitch and garter stitch and other textural patterns than I used to be.

I didn't measure my gauge as I went.  Not that it really matters since every project is gonna be unique for a while.  But I did measure it after taking the above photo.  My gauge with this stitch and this yarn and my current experience level is roughly 3.5 stitches per inch horizontally, and between 1/2" and 3/4" per row vertically.  The hat is roughly 8-9" deep and probably about 20-22" in circumference.

So that I don't need to go look at a bunch of other posts:  This is a hat made in Oslo stitch, a stitch which is sometimes referred to using 1+ 1 F1 and other times as UO / UO O F1.  I used my yarn tapestry needle and my thumb to make it.  It is my first real nalbinding project.  I did a circular start, increased for about 5 rounds, then continued with no further increases or decreases until the hat was Long Enough, about 14-15 rounds or so total rounds.

It's probably just as well that I do a lot of knitting from mental templates rather than explicit patterns.  I don't have trouble making things up as I go.  If I ever do fingerless mitts or socks, I'd better do them at the same time, though, so I have a better chance of getting two things to be the same size.

What's next?  More hats, probably.  And bags or baskets or hot pads/mats.  Maybe fingerless mitts but maybe not.  Maybe some little spheres that I can stuff and turn into cat toys.

I might also make some samplers in different stitches.  They can double as wristbands, I guess, or beverage cozies or little rings of no useful purpose.

So, a progression....  (to my noob brain)

First, there are simple buttonhole-stitch loops (aka half-hitches) that don't connect to each other horizontally, which is found worldwide and to me seems connected to basketry and netting as well.

Somewhere just after that are the simple looping and simple looping with a twist bags that are on Sally Pointer's youtube channel.  Bilums (string bags from Papua New Guinea and surrounding areas) might be sort of in this category, too.

Then there is Coptic stitch (aka Tarim stitch), where loops don't connect horizontally but do interlock a bit more vertically ( -/- O F1B1), and which is very common worldwide.

Then there are loops that connect to one previous loop horizontally, which at least some people call Danish stitch (O / UO).

There are other variations on all of the above, of course.  Some seem to split plies, which means, to me, that there are some affinities with ply-split braiding.  I mean, not really, but the idea of ply-splitting a perfectly good plied thread/cord is common to both.

Eventually one works up to Oslo and York stitch, which both have one loop in front of the thumb and one behind (i.e. horizontally linking with more than one loop) and many variations.

And then there are tons of stitches with more loops in front of and behind the thumbs, going into them in different directions and/or different interweaving patterns, different connection methods, etc.  And then more, but that's in my future and I don't know enough to understand differences and patterns and possibilities.

I may well change all of my conclusions as I continue exploring this.

Also, it seems like some things are conceptually a little bit different if you think about them in terms of making loops in front of and behind your thumb, vs making loops with freehand sewing through a line of loops where you explicitly keep track of going over/under/around with your needle.  I want to be able to think in both systems.  That's been kind of a fun thing as I romp through the current internet offerings about nalbinding.  Some people only use thumb methods, some only use freehand needle methods, and some use and discuss both.

And that's enough noobish blathering.  I want to do some braiding soon, and eventually I need to make the tablet-woven band that someone has requested.  Plus all the other things on my want-to-do list, including knitting and spinning.

First Nalbinding Project in Progress -- the classic Oslo stitch hat

I finished the last strand of random cotton and called my practice piece done.

The top three stripes were done using the F2 connection maneuver. They are a little tighter than the bottom stripes, but I don't know how much is due to doing F2 instead of F1 and how much is due to me getting a bit faster, smoother, and more consistent as I learned.

And then I started my first real project.  A hat using Oslo stitch with  the F1 connector stitch (1 + 1 F1) is a fairly common first project.  So why not?

It looks like a hat, yay, and very much like the hats I see people around me wearing.

Dunno if it's gonna be too big or too little.  If so, I'll find someone who fits it and/or will flip it upside down and turn it into a basket/bowl or a bag.

The yarn is probably acrylic.  It's a fairly chunky (a bit thicker than Aran weight) single ply yarn.  And I'm using my yarn needle again.

I started with 8 simple stitches into a center loop, then pulled the loop shut.  The stitches weren't made around my thumb -- I used the needle, with each new loop (buttonhole stitch aka half hitch) going through the center loop and the previous loop.

Then I switched to Oslo stitch.  One loop over the thumb.  One loop behind the thumb.  The working thread coming out from underneath the front loop.  The new loop goes through the back loop (front to back) then swivels around and goes under the front loop and working yarn, making a new loop over the thumb.  The old thumb loop becomes the new back loop, and continue.

I used the F1 connection maneuver -- the new stitch goes into the top/front loop of the stitch in the previous round, from front to back, before going into the back thumb loop.

First round -- two stitches in every stitch.  (i.e. increase in every stitch)

Second round -- two stitches in one stitch, one stitch in the next.  (i.e. increase in every other stitch)

Third round -- same as the second.  I noticed that the center round was forming a little point and wanted something that would lie flatter, so I did another round with a lot of increases.

Note to future me -- use more stitches in the initial starting round next time.  Many people use 10-15.

Fourth round -- two stitches in one stitch, one stitch in the next two stitches.

Fifth round -- two stitches in one stitch, one stitch in the next three stitches.

I decided that the hat was plenty wide enough at this point and then continued without any further decreases.

I don't really know how many stitches I have.  I'll have to count at some point.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't too consistent in where I stopped one round's increase pattern and started the next.  Not that it really matters, but I would like to have some idea of my gauge, just for fun.

Since this is acrylic yarn, I'm pretty sure, I kind of did a half-assed join where I sewed the ends through each other for a few inches.  It's not a perfect join and the yarn at those spots is a bit loose and fatter than the neighboring yarn.

The next nalbinding post is likely to show the finished hat.

After this, chances are I'll play around with different stitches.  Even the Oslo stitch has a lot of interesting things one can do with the stitch and with the connection options.  I'd also like to do some  flat-sewn nalbinding or at least figure out how to adjust tension for thinner yarns.  Around my thumb works for fat yarn but historically a lot of nalbinding is made from fairly fine yarns.  Plus the whole way that the loops get connected to each other is kind of interesting, and I want to understand the connection between the interconnected loops and how the thumb method helps keep that organized properly.  Maybe a thin rod of some sort (or the needle) was used to make smaller loops?

It feels weird to post a hat in my narrow wares blog.  But I did write, at the very beginning, that this blog was for things that didn't fit in my knitting blog.  My knitting blog is mostly well-known crafts and this one is more obscure crafts, apparently.

Today's Noobish Nalbinding Report

Nalbinding continues, yay.  After the black stripe, I switched from doing the F1 connection to the previous round, to the F2 connection, going through two stitches on the round beneath (the current stitch and the previous stitch) instead of one.  It seems to have a slightly tighter gauge -- look at how the work narrows in the red and white areas, though honestly, it might just be me getting a bit more comfortable and more consistent with doing the moves.  A lot of websites/people do say that the F2 version does lead to a denser fabric, though.

Also, it might be an illusion -- if I do a bit of wiggling of the sampler, it stretches out and all the stripes are the same.  Maybe they're a bit less elastic.  Another possibility is what I've seen in a few places, that one's gauge often tightens up a bit after a few rounds even when one isn't a complete noob.

I'm not sure which I like better.  But I'm expecting that to be true of nalbinding in general.  The different variations and stitches will be different, whether subtly or obviously, but all are fine.  They may have different properties in terms of elasticity, warmth, appearance, durability, etc.  I guess I'll find out with time.

I also have started doing an overlap when adding new yarn rather than tying a knot.  The new yarn traces the same path as the old yarn for a loop or so, and then I drop the old yarn and start the new, just being a little bit careful until the new loops are locked into place.  For "real" pieces, I'm not sure if I'd darn them in or just let them dangle and slowly get felted/fulled into place.  My expectation is that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and it's my choice if I want to spend my time spit-splicing or darning in ends.  (Ditto with all other crafts -- we can decide where we want to spend our time, and where we'd rather take the shortcut in one area that makes more work elsewhere.)

I don't particularly like the looseness of the weave.  Using the thumb as a gauge for the loops leads to a fairly open texture.  It's likely to be a lot tighter with thicker yarn.  I could try nalbinding around a thin dowel or something, or see if I can tension the loops around the needle rather than my thumb, I suppose.

I have one more blob of green cotton left, whether I use it on this piece or try something else.  If I use it on this piece, I'll probably do a few increases and/or decreases just to confirm that they are what I think they are.  Dunno what else to play with for the last round or two.

Then it will be time for a real project.  I'll do either a bag or a hat, probably.  Oslo stitch because it's a classic beginner choice.  Almost certainly the F1 connection version, since I like the hats I've seen on Ravelry where the nalbinder made that choice.  Probably top down, though I haven't decided for sure yet.  I'll probably use some bulky (or at least Aran weight) acrylic.  I'm sure the first project will have oddities and weirdnesses and inconsistencies and mistakes, but the only way to get better is to do the noobish stuff and gain experience.

Then I'll explore some of the other common stitches.  And maybe start using wool.

My beginner sampler almost works as is for a wrist-warmer, though I'm certainly not going to make another one!  Dunno if I'll turn this into a little bag or just toss it into the sampler pile.

Noobish Nalbinding cont'd

Here's the current bit of nalbinding noobishness, and the first pic I've taken.  I've done a foundation chain in Oslo stitch and have started a new round of Oslo stitch, yay, using only one loop from the previous round.

There are still plenty of oddities, as one would expect.

I'm using some random cotton that's lying around and tying knots to join the pieces.  It's a noob piece; I don't care.

Plans are to keep going until I get bored.  I might do a few increases or decreases, but really, those seem to be exactly how it's done in crochet or knitting, so I don't expect any conceptual difficulties.  Reality might be a bit different, I suppose.

And then I guess it's time for an actual useful-ish project.  After that, I'll experiment with some other stitches and stitch variations, and also do more projects and try different materials.

It still feels like sewing.  I guess there's a bit of magic in sewing interconnected loops into a 3D structure.  I wonder how much chain mail takes inspiration from nalbinding structures and vice versa.