[Toraerie] Naalbinding

[pafk0003 at umn.edu]

So, the site that you can reference for non-thumb sock making is Practical 
Naalbinding: 
http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/annex6.html

Tips: don't make you loops too tight. You saw what happened to my sock if 
you do. You'll get more confident and want to make them tighter but don't. 
Remember your size and keep on trucking. A good rule of thumb: if you have 
to fight to get the needle through, it is too tight.

Also, you might experience a problem of your sock becoming wavey/puckering 
as you progress. This is a result of having too much material in the curve. 
The best way to avoid this is to skip loops. Don't worry about trying to 
figure out when you should: the sock will actually clue you in.

*tries to think of best way to explain this for people going "huh?"*  

So, eventually the initial loop fills up. To continue the sock, you start 
attaching your new loops to the loops you made before (you start a new row 
-- see Practical Naalbinding figure 48g). The loops that your working off 
of will be slightly offset to the new loop your making -- a little "ahead" 
(48g-h). As you go, you'll see that the next loop you would work off of 
suddenly is no longer "ahead" but is "behind". That's a loop you should 
skip. Sometimes it'll be more than one. It's all to maintain the right 
curve so you don't have too much material.

Those who are still a little confused have two options: contact me and go 
"But Ey~ja! I don't _understand_...Get over here and explain it better!" or 
actually start working with it and you'll see what I'm talking about.


For those who are learning the thumb-technique: there are some videos of 
people doing naalbinding this way. Unfortunately, the video (in German) 
that shows how to do the York stitch (the stitch we're doing) doesn't show 
how to start it. The Olso stitch video does show how to start the stitch, 
but not in the sock format. It's just doing a straight row. Still, you may 
want to see what they're doing -- I find them very informative. And it'll 
show you what I was basing some of my thumb-technique on.

York stitch video: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/76389 Olso stitch video: 
http://myvideo-070.vo.llnwd.net/d1/player/exPlayerV9a.swf?V=http://myvideo-070.vo.llnwd.net/d1/moviex/82/96171.flv&ID=96171

There's also a Finnish site that has videos of naalbinding. I'm not sure 
which stitch they're demonstrating but this is where you'll see keeping 
multiple loops on your finger. The other part of my thumb-technique.

Finnish videos: http://www.vajanto.net/gradu/


I have a lot more resources, but this will get you started.

Also, I think I'm going to start teaching smaller groups (probably max. 3 
students) once finals are over so that people get a better hang of this. I 
know some of who is interested, but please, let me know again if you are so 
that I put you on my list of "contact this person about small group 
teaching."


And of course, any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


IS,
Eyja