Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Better Know A Craft: Naalbinding by Emily Platzer

If you are into lost crafts or historical re-enactments, especially of the ancient Nordic variety, you should learn naalbinding! Emily is here with her naalbinding scarf to tell you a little more about it...


This past summer at the Estes Park Wool Market, I took a class on naalbinding from Erika Thomenius. This technique predates knitting and crochet by thousands of years! The only tools you need is a needle and your thumb.


Each stitch in naalbinding is sewn using a short length of yarn pulled all the way through loops on your thumb. I used a bone naalbinding needle--much like a tapestry needle--for my scarf, which we carry at Fancy Tiger. The scarf was worked in the round in a very large circle, and then CUT into a length because naalbinding work does not unravel!


The yarn for the scarf I made is a silk/wool blend single worsted weight yarn. The new Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn would be perfect for this project!

Thanks Emily! Happy naalbinding!

4 comments:

becky's buttons said...

that is amazing!

Pink said...

Sooooo cool! Old time crafts for the win!

jess said...

That is amazing! Will FT be offering a class on this sometime in the future?

Fancy Tiger Crafts said...

We are hoping to offer a naalbinding class this spring! Look back for it on the schedule early next year as part of our "Lost Crafts" series.