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Nalbinding – It's Not Knitting
Heritage techniques for the contemporary textile crafter
Nalbinding – It's Not Knitting
Heritage techniques for the contemporary textile crafter
Description
Put down your knitting and pick up something new – and old – with these 20 projects teaching needle-looped stitches from across the millennia.
Nalbinding – loop-manipulated textiles that use just a single needle – can be traced as far back as the Mesolithic period and is still popular in Scandinavia. The results of the various techniques can resemble wool knitting or be worked as an open mesh akin to netting; it can be dense and warm or light and airy; and can use thick woollen yarns or be worked in thin, smooth plant fibres.
This guide containing modern-day designs will teach you various nalbinding techniques and stitches dating from the Stone Age, through the Bronze Age, Ancient Egypt, into medieval Scandinavia and beyond. Sally Pointer's photographic step-by-step instructions will show you how to create your own knotless netting shopping bag, drawing on a Neolithic textile fragment; craft a messenger bag using Oslo, Mammen and Dalby stitches; and knock up practical old favourites such as pixie hats, socks, slippers and, of course, mittens!
Table of Contents
Tools and Materials
Simple Looping: Stone Age Style
Cross-Knit Looping: Egyptian Sandal Socks
York Stitch: Viking Textiles
Thumb-Tensioned Stitches: Early Medieval to Modern
Dalby Stitch: Embroidered Tokens of Love
Projects: Tablet case; shopping bag; messenger bag; hot water bottle cover; spiral hat; pixie hat; knotwork capelet, squashy socks, slouchy sock toppers, festival slippers, mittens, handwarmers
References
Glossary
Resources
Index
Product details
| Published | 23 Mar 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 160 |
| ISBN | 9781789943061 |
| Imprint | Herbert Press |
| Illustrations | Illustrated in full colour throughout. |
| Dimensions | 280 x 216 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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