Spin around

I can't believe how fast the weeks have been going by! We've all been busy working on our projects and I will be posting another entry this week to show you how my "hat" is coming along. Fingers crossed it works out as it has been extremely labour intensive compared with the traditional knitting technique I am used to.

This past week my friend Melissa was kind enough to show me a quick demo of hand spinning wool with a drop spindle whorl. Melissa took a lesson in how to spin wool about a year ago and although she hasn't been a prolific spinner as it is a rather labour intensive craft, she definitely showed me the basics.


First we started with some corriedale wool roving which I purchased from the Knotty by Nature yarn shop a few years back when I first started needle felting. To make roving, wool is shorn from the sheep/alpaca etc...and after washing, is carded or combed together to lengthen and smooth the fibres. This forms long bundles of fibres which are typically twisted or braided together for retail sale.

To start, Melissa had previously some spun wool on her spindle. We decided to continue working with the natural white fibre so she wouldn't interrupt her fibre bundle. She started with pulling off a section of the roving about the width of a pencil and about 24 inches long. Like we have been doing with the nalbinding joins, she took the two rough ends and laid them against each other and then put some twist in the bundle. When she began to spin, this pulled these sections taut against each other and quickly formed new yarn.


Through the process of adding the fibres together, using the spindle whorl to both add twist as well as lengthen the yarn, Melissa was able to demonstrate the basics of how to make your own wool.


I have a new found appreciation for all of the handspun local fibres available in store after seeing this process first hand. Although it appears very labour intensive, it is really rewarding to see how the Viking's would have made their own wool.

Happy spinning!!!!

tk

Attempts at Nalbinding - Some of My Successes and Challenges!

Hey everybody!

Nevermind all of this lovely fall weather we've been having - I've been busy inside nalbinding, and thought I would check in to share with you some of my experiences so far.

I am quite pleased that the Oslo stitch that Linda taught us has stuck around in my mind. I practiced the stitch several times before I began with my 'good' yarn, and by the time I started to use it, I mostly had the stitch down and things were going quite smoothly.


I've been using one of the wooden needles that we made, and it has been serving me quite well. Each time I begin, it takes me just a few stitches to get used to it again, but soon I get into a 'groove' and I remember how enjoyable it really is! It's truly amazing, the calmn that a practice like this can bring to you. I have really been enjoying it, and think that I will be continuing - either with this or with knitting, in the future. The only thing that doesn't yet come naturally is the felting together of yarn pieces every few minutes after I have completed several stitches, and I have an uneasy feeling that this process will never really 'come easy'. Perhaps all of the work of felting is part of the reason why nalbinding is used so infrequently today!

Colourful yarn from Knotty by Nature

One evening I got so into the hat that I am making, that I went a bit further than intended - before I knew it, I had a large doily-looking item in front of me! I had forgotten while I was nalbinding that although it is necessary to use increasing stitches in order to make a hat, that you can't only increase or you will have one large and flat bunch of knitting rather than the slope that is needed in a hat. I am a little bit worried about the overall effect that this has had on my hat seeing as I had already made quite a large, flat, and round product.  I am now experimenting with some ideas and patterns of using primarily regular stitches, and only increasing approximately six times throughout the round of the hat.

Hopefully the hat turns out - but either way, many of you will get to see the finished product in person in just over a week!

Happy Thursday!

-KA

Tying Things Up... with Bone?

Happy Halloween!

I hope everybody has had a spook-tastic Hallow's eve.

Well, we've finally had our last adventure with needle-making. We picked up a beef-bone from the pet store, and got to work after our experience with antler and wood.

First, we boiled the bone in a pot on the stove to soften it, as we learned from our experiences and the difficulty of sawing the antler! Then, after cutting the bone in two larger pieces with a saw, used a hack saw to cut off a side of the bone approximately the size of our soon-to-be needle. We felt that the majority of the tools we used were simple, and representative of the tools that would have been available during the Viking Age.

The bone cut relatively easily, and wasn't as hard on the materials as cutting the antler. We did find, however, that bone is more likely to splinter and shard than the antler that we had worked with, which was more likely to powder. But, as we had boiled it first and used a tool that was not too damaging to the bone, we didn't experience any splintering. Instead, the small piece of bone was able to be cut from the side and later shaped into a nalbinding needle!

Flat and round metal files were used to both shape and smooth the needle, although the bone was already significantly smoother than the wood material that we began with. A drill was used to make the eye hole, which we made sure was big enough to take our thick yarn without snapping the needle. We repeated this process twice, and ended up creating two bone needles in the process. They are surprisingly smooth - hopefully you will all get the chance to see them at some point!

What do you think of our bone needles? :)

Although we mostly documented our bone-needle making with pictures (as my phone was dying and I was not able to take video!), feel free to visit this post on 'How to Make a Bone Needle for Nalbinding' from the 'How To History' website.

Creating our nalbinding needles has been a really enjoyable time. It allowed us to have some real hands-on, crafty experience, and I feel like I learned a lot during the process, both about the materials of bone, antler, and wood, but also on how to work them. Actually touching these materials and working with them helps you to understand them, and I can only imagine where a little bit more experience could bring you!

Stay tuned to learn about what other items were produced with wood, antler, and bone during the Viking Age, as well as to see our progress in our ongoing attempts at nalbinding.

Happy Friday!

-KA

Nalbinding Up Island!

Ah yes! Very exciting things happening in our lovely (not so little anymore) nalbinding world!

This past weekend we had the absolute pleasure of heading up island (the weather was incredible) to meet with Linda and Lynn, two members of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.), a worldwide community dedicated to re-creating the arts and skills of Middle Ages and Renaissance. Lynn welcomed us into her home for the afternoon, and Linda drove down from further up island to teach us the ins and outs of nalbinding!

We arrived at the house to a table covered in hats, fingerless gloves, needles and yarn. Linda kindly indulged us in a short history of nalbinding, as well as her history with the textile art form. Lynn, who was also trying her hand at nalbinding for the first time, was just as interested as we were in what we were about to take part in!

Linda helping Teresa with
her stitch

For the next four hours we worked on the Oslo stitch. Teresa, Kelsey and I were using a thick, fluffy yarn that varied in thickness, so trying to get the yarn through the hole of our needles (!!!!) was slightly challenging! The yarn we brought is a good texture for nalbinding because it can be felted easier; this means that the yarn can be manipulated and washed to alter the size, density of the stitch, and the shape of the item after it has been completed. Lynn was attempting to use a thinner, slightly more slippery yarn, which we learned does not felt the same way as our more fibrous yarn. Not to fear, this kind of yarn can do the same job as ours, but requires knots to connect the different pieces of yarn together instead of abrasive rubbing and a bit of good old fashioned spit on the palm!

Kelsey's first attempt!

The process starts by ripping off about an arms length of yarn from the ball. Nalbinding is an entirely different process from other types of needle working, as you don't use one continuous string to make your item, but you fasten short pieces together so that you can create a continuous series of knots (again different from knitting in that you can't easily undo stitches messy stitches).

My test stitch!
(pretty good, no?)

Linda had us start by doing a test stitch to practice our technique.

Once we felt comfortable with this we started on another, which we soon turned into a "cuff" and continued stitching in a round. We learned to increase (add stitches to make the row longer) and decrease (drop stitches to make the row shorter) stitches. I found increasing stitches to be a little bit difficult, especially with such thick yarn because it was hard to see if you had done one or two stitches already, and often I forgot what were I was at and either added a third stitch, or only put one stitch instead of two. My poor attention span caused my cuff to be a little lopsided.. a little bumpy here, a little tight there... Whoops. Next we learned how to start a hat from the top and work downwards. This was interesting because Linda prefers to build her hats in the opposite direction of most nalbinders. She does this to avoid having a pointy tip at the top where the last stitches are placed, kind of like a smurf hat! To avoid this she begins at the top in a tight loop (using a kind of draw string method) to create a circle of stitches, and then works her way out and down in order to create the shape of the hat, and then terminating at the bottom of the hat, instead of the top.  

My wonky, first cuff!

Once we felt fairly comfortable, we got ambitious!

We all bought beautiful yarn to use for this project and we decided there was no time like the present to start out hats!    

Here's to throwning caution to the wind! There is no going back now!

Thanks again to Linda and Lynn for the lovely educational Sunday afternoon!
Stay posted to see pictures of the progression of our hats!

-JF

Adventures with Antler

Happy Monday, everybody!

We hope you all enjoyed the lovely, sunny fall weekend that we just had. Our group certainly did - we had the opportunity to meet with an experienced nalbinder and Medieval re-enactor, Linda, as well as her friend Lynn. Lynn so graciously invited us into her home for the afternoon, while Linda shared her time for an amazing four-hour nalbinding lesson! Unfortunately, however, that is not the topic of this evening's blog post - stay tuned over the next few days to hear more about it! ;)

Now, back to our needle-making extravaganza.

We used antler as our second material in the attempt to create nalbinding needles. On a trip to the pet store for her two dogs at home, Teresa was able to find some pretty ideal "100% naturally shed" antler tips that we would use as our primary material.  Remembering the success and relative ease of that we experienced making wood needles, we began this project with enthusiasm, and were quite sure that it would go swimmingly!

We learned right away that it would be a much longer process. The antler was extremely dense, making it difficult to saw through as we had with the wood needles. It was decided that we would need to anchor the piece of antler in order to stabilize it for cutting, so we used three screws to hold it in place on a small wooden platform. This helped greatly, as we were then able to work at it with a saw in an effective way. It did still, however, take much more time than sawing the wood needles, partly because we decided to use a hack saw in an effort to remain close to the tools that would have been used during the Viking Age.

It also became quickly evident that the choice to work outside was a good one. The 'dust' that came from the antler as it was sawed could be smelled from several feet away, and let me tell you - it was not pleasant! But this small bit of smell-oriented discomfort was well worth it, as soon we had cut the antler piece into three different sections and were able to finish up and produce a beautiful nalbinding needle.

Fine and medium metal files were used to shape the piece of antler into the shape of a needle, as well as to smooth out the sides. We used a drill to make the hole again, as it would have taken even longer than the wood needles to produce a hole without this tool.

If I were to do this again, I would follow the suggestions of some others who have made nalbinding needles from antler - try visiting this link to Genvieve's SCA blog, for example. In particular, I would try soaking the antler in water for a few days prior to the experiment, and would boil it right before use so that it was still wet for working. I can imagine that this step of Genvieve's would work to help control the smell and powder-like dust that comes from the antler as it is being sawed.

Our finished antler needle product!

When all is said and done, I'd say the antler needle turned out exceptionally well. Although it took a bit more time than the wood needle did, it is smooth and sturdy, making it both nice to hold and unlikely to break. I am excited for the next step - giving this needle a try after I have a little bit more experience with the nalbinding stitch first under my belt.

Well, thanks for stopping by nalbinders! Feel free to ask us any questions if this is something you are interested in trying at home!

Wishing everyone an awesome week ahead.

-KA

Needles You Say?

I can’t believe how fast this month has flown by! We’ve been experiencing amazing fall weather which has swung between stunning sunshine and the damp misty fog I envision when thinking of the first views our Vikings would have seen of Northern Scotland and the British Isles.

During our initial stages of planning for this nalbinding adventure, we decided we were going to try our hand at making our own needles. After researching the needles online through re-enactor sites, I found a crafter, Deanna, in Ontario who sells handcrafted nalbinding needles through her shop Chesnut Tree Creations. After using these as inspiration, we decided to try and make a needle from wood. We contacted a local woodworker who was kind enough to help us with our project including helping us handle the tools safely. Thanks Dad!  We gathered the materials required and got to work on Monday night. 

We tried to use tools that would not have had realistic results based on the tools the Vikings would have had access to. This includes an axe, a hand saw, a pocket-knife, files, screws/nails and sandpaper. We know similar tools existed due to The Mastermyr Find and we were amazed at how simple the process actually was. 

Kelsey's mad axe skills

We started out using a smallish piece of BC softwood (pine or cedar), and using the axe, split it into smaller slices. These were split again into rectangles and then carved or whittled down into the rough needle shape using the pocket-knife and then smoothed it all out with the sand paper. Once it was in the almost finished state, we then “cheated” and used a power drill to create an eye. This unfortunately caused the wood to split leaving us to start over. Trial and error!

After repeating the process up to the rough needle shape, we then re-drilled the eye and once it reached the desired size and shape, we finished sanding it. This whole process took about 7 minutes the second time! We created a few more and are very pleased with how they have turned out. We know the modern use of a drill reduced the overall amount of time required to create a needle, but with a sharpened tool such as a tiny chisel or boring tool, it could still become an incredibly fast item to produce. Of course the right woodworker's skills would be a welcome asset! 

Stay tuned over the next few days to see samples of all of the amazing needles we have made! Stay classy nalbinders, and thanks for stopping in! -TK

Yarn Shopping!

Well hello there!

Knotty by Nature Fine Arts!

This past Wednesday evening, the three of us barrelled into Teresa's car and raced from UVic to "Knotty By Nature". Time was of the essence as we fought the winding trail (A.K.A.: Foul Bay Road) to make it there before close. We arrive in the nick of time and quickly made nice with the owner. To our surprise, we were not the last customers as we had feared. We quickly became overwhelmed as our senses were overloaded with different colours, textures, fabrics and the smell of Kelsey's childhood: she walked around with a soap in her hand the entire time, full of nostalgia, claiming that THIS was the quintessential smell of her youth!

Us girls grabbing our wool!

After a few exchanges with Linda, an experienced nalbinder up island, we had a list of proper nalbinding supplies to procure. The owner of the shop was unfamiliar with nalbinding, but was extremely helpful in showing us the right kinds of wool, spun our yarn into balls, and graciously took our information so that he could put us into contact with any other nalbinders if he came across any! We were there well after close; Kelsey and myself couldn't decide on our yarn colours for ages! She ended up with a red/ purple colour pallet, while mine is a blue/green. Teresa quickly picked out a beautiful grey! --We know these aren't authentic viking age colours... but hey, we wanted to be able to enjoy our end product, and pretty yarn will definitely help with that!

Ring Pins?!

The only downside to our beautiful fluffy wool is that Teresa had originally bought nalbinding needles online for us to use to authenticate the process, however, our wool is too thick for the eye of the needle so we will have to rely fully on our own creations! Lets see where that takes us!

The moon outside the shop!

(Clearly we left after the 6:00 store close, look how 

beautiful the sky was when we left the shop!)  
-JF