Nahlbindning

Mary , i am tottaly sure the Metzada Sock was Naalbound, Dr Sheffer showed one to us , and also told how when they found it, Professor Yadin gave it to one of the Female archeologist to check , how it was made. I could identify it as naaldbinding since i saw it after i studied Naaldbinding in BU. Your surprise comes mainly because we use the Scandinavian term for this technique. You have to remember that Europeans , were more in the habit of documenting techniques. While in the east it wasn`t done in suc extent. People worked used it and taht was that ,, noboby took care to write patterns, Cloth do show up on murals , and in Musaics. The female arrcheologiste reproduced an exact replica of the Metazda sock ,,, it deffinitely is Naaldbinding. In the time these socks show up , the Greek and Romans have already Ruled the Middle East, if they could bring Elphants to Jerushalyim, how hard would it be to bring a little sock ??? mirjam

Yes, in general - it's done with an eyed needle and adding short lengths of wool as they are used up. But it is different in that the nalbinding stitch used in Eygpt is identical to crossed-loop knitting (also called twisted-loop), _except_ where certain kinds of increases are done and where mistakes are made that can be made easily in nalbinding but are very hard to do in knitting. That's why artifacts done in Egyptian- style nalbinding were misidentified as knitting until Dorothy Burnham analyzed them. The Scandinavian nalbinding (from which we get the word) may occasionally use that stitch, but there are over 30 other stitches that are used, giving different thicknesses for different purposes. Nalbinding was used for socks, warm hats, mittens, hairnets, and milk-strainers, among other things.

Of course, "Egyptian" style nalbinding was used elsewhere, too, most famously in pre-1492 South America, where it was done in tiny stitches with fine thread and many colors to make everything from vertical stripes covering the seams on a pouch to little birds, animals, plants, and people all sewn into a lacy afghan.

I think that was a reference to using five needles, each of which has one end hooked and one end pointed, to knit in the round.

They are sometimes referred to as Portuguese knitting needles, though they are used in the Azores and South America and Turkey and (I think) in Egypt and were still used in southern France in the early 20th century and I think in the Balkans, etc. They are still routinely used in Portugal, complete with modern epoxy coating, and I think they are also used in Spain.

I have a set. It takes some practice to learn to use them (especially if you are knitting flat) but for knitting in the round they are great, and if you're knitting lace with k3tog and p3tog, that hook is wonderful. I believe Lacis offers them (NAYY).

=Tamar

I didn't doubt you :-) I was just surprised that what (here) is usually regarded as a north European technique was also [ractised in the Middle East. There's no reason why it shouldn't be of course, others, such as tablet weaving, are universal in both old and new worlds for thousands of years.

I don't think first Millenium Scandinavians were :-)

Quite.

Ot even a pair, for a two legged person :-)

Mary

...

Thank you! It's clearer now.

Well yes, there's no 'standard' or 'correct' stitch, just the one you're doing at the time to produce the effect you want :-)

That sounds fascinating ...

I don't understand that last sentence, I suspect you're talking from across the sea :-)

Thank you very much for a thought provoking reply.

Mary

Mercy on us, Tamar! The things you know!