Nailbinding

I am a Northern European Mutt. I have always felt closer to my Irish and English culture but there was a side of me although I knew it, it always felt distant. The image I have used for my profile picture on this blog, my etsy page, and my facebook page was always a hint to that part of me but it wasn’t until recently that I felt any connection to my Swedish side. My Grandma K, died when I was little and I never knew her parents, My Great Grandma and Grandpa N. That image is the only one I have found of the whole family. Until recently the only remaining member of that picture was her older bother but I always had a hard time talking to him. I would ask him things but I all too often got the short answer so eventually I stopped asking. The only connection I felt was to making my Grandma’s glug and her peparcorker cookie and my uncle’s term for me, the little Viking. In fact, when it comes to my Scandinavian culture I feel closer to the Vikings.

The strangest connection I have found though was not in the culture but the arts. Their knitting is glorious, filled with beautiful patterns and colors. I haven’t tried knitting with more than two colors yet, but maybe after my next sweater and some hats I will grapple faire Isle knitting. Yet in my research I found something new. It dates to be older than knitting and even outdates the Vikings, appearing in other locations around the globe. There are a lot of textile techniques that show up in Viking sites, lucet cording, which I have talked about before, woven cording, weaving techniques but this one caught my attention because of the interesting texture it creates.  It is called nailbinding.

A mitten in the National Museum of Iceland

To the untrained eye it can be passed off as knitting but in reality it is done with short burst of thread/yarn and a needle. It appears to still be practice in parts of Scandinavia though like many fiber arts has its seen its rise and fall through time. While I was looking this up more and more seemed to becoming at me but a few years ago when I was looking up the history of knitting I found nothing mentioning nailbinding.  It appears in all sorts of places all over the world though, not just Scandinavian. The technique appears in Egypt, Iran though most discoveries of it appear in Scandinavia. It looks too that while knitting picked up speed in other parts of the world Nailbinding stayed strong in Norway, Sweden and Finland until the rise of those colorful, decorative knits they have become so well known for today. 

My own attempt at the art was not so pretty. The top is riddled with holes big enough for my finger to go through.  I haven't figured how to make it wider as I go but don't worry I will figure it out.  It also appears to go faster than my knitting as I work but it is still to early to say for sure.  Just adding more to my repertoire. (What I need apparently is more hobbies.)

My first attempt got smoother as I went.