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.
