Yes, yes. I should be working on my circle vest to have it done before the end of February for the Green Camel Gathering fiber arts event. But I got distracted, you see.
A spiffy knotwork headband post from one of the Facebook groups inspired me this week to start to learn how to do knotwork in nalbinding, beyond braids. I’ve always loved Celtic and Viking knotwork, thus I was dragged (not unwillingly) into another project. Thankfully this one went quickly!
It’s been wicked cold out (windchill -20°F/-28°C to -30°F/-34°C) this week, so a cowl was the perfect project.
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| Nalbound cowl with knotwork – done in Finnish 2+2 stitch. A Celtic looking clasp was the pefect closure for this, to help tighten it against my face. I couldn’t resist putting the needle in the picture too. Hubby made it from red heart wood and gave it to me for Valentine’s Day a few years ago. |
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| The cowl with the clasp undone. |
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| I’m trying not to giggle as my son snaps the picture of me in this cowl indoors. |
Working on each of the little pretzel like knots was addictive and the work went quickly. Yarn details are on the project page. I suspect this will lead to more knotwork projects…
To help my fellow nalbinders with knotwork of their own (since it took me a couple tries to be able to make them consistently), I took pictures of each step for making the little pretzel knots. (They’re actually overhand knots – but they look so much like pretzels!) Hopefully this will also help me remember how to do the knots too.
How to Make Knotwork “Pretzels”: (Or at least it’s how I made them. There are probably several ways to make them.)
To start, I’ll recommend making a pretzeloverhand knot and measuring it against a flat row of stitches, so you can get the width in stitches of your knots and how many stitches for each section.
Shy Red Fox 
Hi, my name is Mary. While recently checking out things on Pinterest I came across Naalbinding, and have started saving as many things that I could find that were in English. You were the first person that had a wonderful site. I’ve never done this type of needle work before, but have knitted, embroidered, sewn and some crochet.
So, that being said, where do I begin? My husband is in the process of making my first wooden needle, and he’s doing an excellent job. I have lots of yarn but no basic stitch patterns yet.
Can you please help this budding adventurer?
Thank you,
Mary
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Hi Mary! One of my favorite sites to learn stitches and start is by a lovely Finnish lady named Sanna. http://www.en.neulakintaat.fi/ I’d recommend the Olso stitch to start with. (Under Finnish Stitch in her menu). She has great videos (that I used to learn from too). Let me know if you have any questions. There’s also several great Facebook groups that happily help. This one is mostly in English. https://www.facebook.com/groups/644499622267562 Hope that’s of help!
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(lol – I just realized I commented with my pen name. *head desk*)
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