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?
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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.
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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.
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