[MR] medieval knitting and nalbinding links (Fwd: Aoife-Links Digest, Vol 6, Issue 2)

[SNSpies at aol.com]

Greetings, my Faithful Readers!

This week Mother Nature played a  horrendous trick on me. One day it was 62 
degrees outside. The next day it  is negative10 degrees, and it's snowing to 
beat the band. I need my  woolies for sure! Of course, it being the end of 
the winter (please, god,  let it be the end of the winter), we're 
significantly stocked with  unmatched mittens, shrunken hats, and other 
mis-matched accoutrements of a  long cold spell. So, this week's Links List 
is dedicated to producing  good, warm items of a knitted and naalbinding 
nature. For both the  beginner and the expert, there's something for the 
fiber-freak in every  group.

Please pass this along where it will find a ready  audience!

Cheers

Aoife

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon, CL,  CP
Canton of Riverouge
Barony of the Endless Hills
Sylvan Kingdom of  Aethelmearc

A Brief Introduction to Medieval Muslim Knitting by Dar  Anahita
http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Knitting/EgyptKnitIntro.html
(Site  Excerpt) The oldest surviving pieces of true knitting have been found 
in  Egypt. Because many were not found by trained archaeologists, the exact  
dates and provenance of many pieces are unknown. However, most of the  pieces 
can be roughly dated to between 1000 and 1400 CE. Most are  definitely older 
than the European paintings called "knitting Madonnas"  which begin to appear 
in the 14th century and are the first documents of  knitting in Europe. 
Therefore some scholars believe that knitting  originated in Egypt.
SEE ALSO:
More Medieval Egyptian  Knitting
http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Knitting/EgyptKnit4.html
Beautiful  photo of her work! PLEASE follow the links at the end. Some 
terrific  projects here for the historic knitter.

Stefan's Florilegium:  knitting-msg
http://www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/knitting-msg.html
(Site  Excerpt from one message of many) Where to start on medieval 
knitting...  Firstly, I guess, needles. There are no surviving needles that I 
know of  (or have read about). However, there a number
of period illustrations  showing people knitting (most often the Virgin). My
assumption is that  needles were made out of either metal or wood, or, 
possibly,
bone. I  feel our modern steel needles are acceptable for knitting with at
events.  (Plastic, however, I do not). For most items, a set of double-ended
needles  is the norm. I prefer to use a set of five. Four to hold the  
stitches,
the fifth to knit with.

Egyptian Cotton  Socks
Ursula  Georges
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/03/ursula/sca/socks/socksdoc.html
(Site  Excerpt) The originals are made of blue and white cotton. These are 
made  of navy and white Fortissima yarn, which is cotton with 25% nylon added 
 
for strength. I chose the cotton-nylon blend over mercerized cotton,  hoping 
that untreated cotton would better replicate the texture of the  original 
pair.

Medieval  Knitting
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/1940/medknit.html
(Site  Excerpt) Knitting in medieval times was general used for hose, socks,  
caps, and undershirts. Double pointed needles were the only type known and  
the knitting was generally done in the round, just like Fair Isle or old  
Nordic knitting.

Medieval Knitting  References
http://www.jwhiteconsulting.com/scaarts/knitting.html

Handknit  Hose a Knitted Stocking Pattern
By Donna Flood  Kenton
http://www.dabbler.com/ndlwrk/stocking.html
(Site Excerpt) In the  second year of Queen Elizabeth, 1560, her silk woman, 
Mistress Montague,  presented Her Majesty with a pair of black knit silk 
stockings for a new  year's gift; the which, after a few days of wearing, 
pleased Her Highness  to well that she sent for Mistress Montague and asked 
her where she had  them, and if she could help her to any more; who answered, 
saying: "I made  them very carefully of purpose only for Your Majesty; and 
seeing these  please you so well, I will presently get more in hand."

A little bit  about Knitting in the Middle Ages
Sister Mairi  Jean
http://adamastorshire.co.za/chronicler/stormtidings/archive/as/knitting.html
(Site  Excerpt) There is some argument about how old the practice of knitting 
is.  There is a technique called nalbinding that produces a result almost  
identical to knitting, in most cases, unless a particular error was made  
that can only be made in knitting. The experts mostly seem to agree that  
knitting did not exist before the twelfth century and anything before that  
must have been nalbinding. If one knows what to look for one can tell the  
difference between nalbinding and knitting by looking at the cast on edge,  
but that often does not survive (Richard Eney).

Early Period  Knitting
http://www.housebarra.com/EP/ep05/06knitting.html
(Site  Excerpt) In 1935 archeologists working in the Roman city of Dura 
Europos  found true knitted fabric. Dura Europos, which fell in 256 A.D., is  
located on the borders of modern Israel. The fabric was knitted with two  
needles in a technique referred to as 'crossed' or 'oriental' knitting.  One 
piece had intricate leaf patterns knitted into it. We know the Copts  were 
using knitting, because knitted anklets were buried with their dead.  One 
pair was divided at the big toe like Japanese tabi and used drop  knitting 
and cross stitching at the heel to fit the  heel.

Historicknit Knitting  e-list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricKnit/

Knitted Caps by  Cathy Snell
http://www.employees.org/~cathy/caps.html
(Site Excerpt)  Knitting caps is not very difficult. Beyond the basics of the 
stocking  stitch, one needs to know how to knit in the round (using 4 or 5 
double  pointed needles) and to increase and decrease. All the caps shown 
below  are variations of these techniques. I've seen descriptions for 
knitting  caps starting at the bottom (brim) or at the top (crown). There is 
no  definitive evidence one way or the other and caps were probably knit with 
 
both methods.

Naalbinding mailing  list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nalbinding/

Nålbinding
http://www.dilettante.info/nalbindingmain.htm
(Site  Excerpt) Nalbinding (also spelled nålbinding, naalbinding, 
nalebinding) is  a method of creating a stretchy textile using short lengths 
of yarn and a  single-eyed needle. Fabric is formed by looping the yarn 
through at least  two previously created loops, gradually building up row 
upon row of loops.  Gauge depends on the size of yarn and the 
looseness/tightness of the  individual naalbinder.

101: Introduction to the "Åsle" stitch
Lady  Sabine du  Coeurgris
http://www.dernehealde.org/nalbinding/nalweb.html
(Site  Excerpt) Get a nice blunt needle. The one I used at War was "Jumbo  
Tapestry Needles, bent point" (brand name Clover, ART No.219). This needle  
works rather well; it is the needle in the photos. You can use just about  
any needle that has a very blunt point. I recommend a short needle, one  not 
much over 2 inches.

Antler Needles for  Nalbinding
http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jthies/sca/viking/antlerneedles.html
(Site  Excerpt) I had a notion to create an antler nalbinding needle of my  
own.  The original plan was to create the needle and then use the  needle to 
create a pair of socks out of nalbinding.  While this did  not occur, I did 
finish the second needle in time and to my liking that it  was put to use in 
creating the heel on my second Coppergate  sock.

Socks of Nalbinding, 10th  century
http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jthies/sca/viking/jorviksocks.html
(Site  Excerpt) They are cozy, warm and very useful for a lady of the  
Danelaw.  The choice of red for the contrasting color for the edge is  in 
keeping with a predominance of red found in Jorvik digs for textiles  such as 
the original sock.  They are currently a bit too large for my  feet, but they 
will full down to a smaller size with wear and  washing.

Phiala's String Page:  Nalbinding
http://www.stringpage.com/naal/naal.html
(Site Excerpt)  Naalbinding, also called needle knitting, is a Scandinavian 
technique for  making a sturdy, elastic fabric. In regular knitting, each 
loop is only  connected to those directly above and below it, but in 
naalbinding each  loop is connected to at least one on either side as well.

Stefan's  Florilegium  naalbinding-msg
http://www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/naalbinding-msg.html
(Site  Excerpt from one msg) Just a brief announcement for those having an  
interest in naalbinding. >Larry Schmitt's third naalbinding workbook is  now 
available. It is >titled "Lessons in Naalbinding: Mittens, Mittens,  
Mittens!" This
>workbook is an exploration of the traditional  Scandinavian naalbinding
>mittens -- including -- directions for four  naalbinding stitches and six
>mitten patterns (each in three  sizes).

Regia Anglorum  Nalbinding
http://www.regia.org/naalbind.htm
(Site Excerpt) Construction  of the 'Coppergate sock'.
The work starts at the toe, where a single loop  of yarn is made and then a 
circular row of loops is worked into it. For  the next row, the looping is 
continued, passing the needle through the  centre of the first row; after two 
loops have been completed, the needle  starts to be brought back through the 
next to last loop of the current  row. The work is continued in this manner, 
passing the needle through the  row below and back through the last loop. The 
effect of this technique is  to produce a heavy, almost double-thickness 
fabric, of great  elasticity.

Nålebinding Techniques in the Viking Age
© 2001 Carolyn  Priest-Dorman (Þóra  Sharptooth)
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/nalebind.html
(Site  Excerpt) The number of verifiable finds of Viking Age nålebinding is,  
alas, quite small. So, while we know that nålebinding was practiced in the  
Viking Age, we don't know much about what was actually produced. This work  
will list as many known pieces in the technique as I can find, with as  much 
supporting evidence as I can find. The order of items will be  determined by 
the complexity of their stitch technique according to  Margrethe Hald's 
system. Cross-references to the nomenclature of Odd  Nordlund, Egon Hansen, 
and Larry Schmitt will be included. An annotated  bibliography follows the 
text.


If you wish to correspond with  Aoife directly, please send mail to: mtnlion 
at ptd dot net as she is  unable to respond in this account