#naalbinding

Naalbinding is a textile production technique in which a blunt needle is passed repeatedly between the threads to create thousands of interlinked knots that become the fabric. It has been described as primitive knitting (...sure), Viking knitting (this is like calling all painting "Italian Renaissance Painting"), and "knotless knitting" (somehow the most inaccurate of all). It was practiced in almost every human culture all over the world, and now survives in Peru, Scandinavia, and hardcore SCA groups.

Everyone knows what knitting is, so it's tempting to explain naalbinding as a form of knitting. A more conceptually elegant way to put it, is that knitting and crochet exploit the increasing availability of long, uniform, high-quality spun yarn and thread to solve the main problem of naalbinding.

Naalbinding, knitting, and crochet can all be grouped together as techniques that convert a one-dimensional cord into a two-dimensional fabric by tying hundreds or thousands of interlinked knots. Naalbinding ties these knots just like you would tie any ordinary overhand knot: there's a working end that passes through the loops, and a standing end that stays put. A naalbinder works in chunks of cord, doubling or tripling it onto the needle so it can all be pulled through to the end. When they reach the end of the cord, the naalbinder must join on more.

Naalbinding does not require extremely uniform, strong cord. Because of the way the knots are tied, a hole does not propagate through the fabric. One weak spot can be strengthened by the surrounding thread. Single-twist cord, like that produced straight off a drop spindle, works fine, and is even slightly better than two-ply or three-ply because it is easier to join on to a previous chunk by rubbing the wool together until it sticks.

Knitting and crochet differ from naalbinding in that they are "tied in the bight," without touching the end of the cord. This allows a knitter or crocheter to work continually from a single ball of yarn. Knitting and crochet exploit the availability of strong, uniform, two or three-ply yarns, available in economies with advanced textile manufacturing.

Knitting was invented somewhere in the Middle East sometime in the 11th Century. This makes sense, because the Arab World had an actual functional number system and had invented the Abacus and algebra, and knitting requires a lot of math. It doesn't tolerate error. Holes do propagate through the fabric. If you get the measurements wrong, you can't just cut it any old place. As far as I've learned watching knitting youtube, if you can knit a sweater, you could probably land a manned vehicle on the moon.

Well, naalbinding is certainly slower and less efficient than knitting, but at least it's not so goddamn boring. It's also easier for me to wrap my head around. My first project was a hat. It's a cowl-shaped hat that curves around my ears and the back of my neck, with a bump in the back that my hair fits under. It's a pretty complex shape. I built it out much like making a coil pot out of clay. My second project was a pair of sock ankles to make my shoes fit better: just the heel. Easy-peasy. My third project will be slippers.

Naalbinding tolerates improvisation and cutting. You don't need to buy various gauges of needles to match various gauges of yarn. There's no counting of stitches (I mean, I guess you can if you want.) Hell, if you want to be really technical, you don't even need yarn. Rolling fiber along the top of your leg to make a shitty single-strand string will be good enough to get you started; it only has to be strong enough for a couple dozen passes and you'll just be patching more on as you go anyway. You can probably make yourself a hat in a couple weekends with nothing but a darning needle and a bag of dog hair.

Naalbinding is arguably primitive, but that doesn't make it boring. Where knitting develops texture through precisely planned variation between a handful of knot types, naalbinding can incorporate a near-infinite variety of stitch types. These result in different thicknesses, textures, and elastic properties in the finished fabric. You could make a dozen hats, each using a different stitch.

On the other hand, when you do make a mistake in naalbinding, it's stuck there. The only way to undo what you did is to literally un-sew your knots in reverse order.

Naalbinding is more portable than knitting, in my opinion. Knitting cannot simply be thrown in a bag. Stitches could fall off the needles and slip out of the fabric. Knitting needles are long, and disturb airport security. A naalbinding needle only needs to be slightly longer than your thumb. To set the work aside, you can just drop it, or if you want to be nice to your future self, stab the needle through the spot you were working and then drop it. Then there's ergonomics: naalbinding is way less efficient than knitting, but that's because you have to move your arms a lot. Moving is good for you.

Most of the surviving stitches, being from Scandinavia, are intended to pack as much yarn as possible into as small a space as possible. But examples of naalbinding survive from around the Mediterranean as well. These stitches tend to be simpler than the Scandinavian versions, more intended to cover a large area with a thin even layer of fabric---much like knitting. Hobbyists have preserved the former and reconstructed the latter.

This is an excellent resource with clear videos demonstrating dozens of stitches.