Just wanted to upload these photos to show how I'm doing it with my 100% acrylic yarn. I'm working down the yoke of a cardigan at the moment.

Oh, I'm also left-handed, so feel free to download these photos and flip them if you need to. :-)

First, when you get to the end of your working yarn, go through one of the stitches in the row below as you normally would and then just remove the needle and let the end hang out back there:

This is Oslo stitch off the thumb, BTW

Now, get the needle with the new length of yarn on it and just put it through the 2nd loop behind the active loop as you would have done normally:

This is a locker hook, and the BEST nalbinding needle in the universe, bar none

Now, you just pull the new working length through the work as normal until you have a very small tail sticking out:

https://preview.redd.it/w0yms5ln2fnd1.jpg?width=2073&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b46dc85a951aefdfc3a0032a3afde5675fd41af

Now, just take that tail and the other one and hold them against the back of the work with your thumb and forefinger while you complete the stitch as you normally would:

Reversing the needle and going down through the first two loops for Oslo stitch

Now just keep going, making sure to adjust the tension of the tails as you go to make the stitches look even. And you'll end up with two small tails that you can hide easily without them showing barely at all:

Just hide them with a darning needle -- easy-peasy, nearly invisible.

You'll want to bury the new end (the rightmost in the above photo) by pushing the needle in the direction of the new stitches, and the old end in the direction of the old stitches. They'll be snug as anything and won't unravel at all. I'd have taken a picture of the spot where I hid the ends ... but I can't find it.

I’ve read several articles and webpages about the history of Nålbinding and I know that the earliest known examples are from Nahal Hemar, and that they might be “proto-nålbinding” rather that true nålbinding, and that the next oldest examples seem to be from Denmark in 4200 BCE, but I’m having trouble finding out which stitches were used in those examples! Does anyone here know? Thank you!

Tagged as a spoiler cause if E reads this its a spoiler lol

My girlfriend is into nalbinding and mentioned she's been interested in large thread type projects. I have no idea about any of this but it sounds like thread or yarn where its maybe 1" in diameter. She apparently doesnt have a needle capable of that.

Ive tried some basic searching but Im not quite sure of terms or stores, and Im not seeing much in results. Anyone familiar with this type of thing? I figure it would be a nice gift.

I'm considering making a hooded mantle that's felted. I'm afraid I'm going to spend weeks making it and end up with something that shrinks so much I can't get it over my head. Do you have a rule of thumb for, say, worsted weight 100% wool, standard Oslo stitch, how much it will shrink (and in what directions)?

Also, has anyone else made an extended hood like this? I am still considering whether to make two pieces and sew them together and then make capelet in the round or to try doing it all without seams.

Do you prefer a shorter strand so you splice more often, or a longer strand that requires more pulling through?

I saw someone on YouTube use a massively long strand and wrap it around his fingers really fast. I can’t tell if it looks more or less convenient 😹

Hi ! I just started nalbinding yesterday and I have already found that constantly knotting the yarn gets tiresome. Ive tried making large crochet chain stitches to increase the length, but my loops are too small to pull them through easily. Are there any other ways to do this or am I stuck?

30 cm Mephiles plush for scale, also don't mind the sock, I'm just trying to figure out how to make a nålbound version of it.

Paperclips make good stitch markers for marking out out things to ensure the finger cuffs fit neatly, they also help with the pain I feel occasionally while nålbinding, first fully completed item just so happens to be a fingerless glove that I'm pretty sure took about two days honestly, I'm gonna make mittens after in the palm down fingers and thumb up way I'm making these. I don't know how I can make these so quick, I thought they'd take a week each. They're a bit tight but they'll loosen up with use.

So,I’ve seen like the typical pattern for dolls like done in modernized knitting,but I wanna make it look almost identical,but the question is that is there any way to convert a knitted pattern into a nålbound pattern in order for me to try it out??I mean,the Coptic stitch is typically an ancestral form of the modern stockinette pattern,but can this possibly work like the same way as with 2 needles?? Lemme know in the comments.

Hi so I started and the videos I’m watching says after you make the circle go around one loop around. Then you do 2 loops then one, then 3 loops 1 loop and keep going then decrease when you need too by going through two loops at once then one loop and so forth?

I'm following a pattern in a nålbinding book for "adult mittens" that the pattern size in supposed to be a men's medium size. It has a starting of 38 stitches before you connect the ends. It doesn't say how to size it for anything bigger or smaller. I'm wanting to make a pair of mittens for my husband. I'm testing out the pattern before making him anything because it's my first pair of mittens and I want to make sure I have it right. As I'm going along, I'm noticing these are significantly smaller than I thought! I can wear them just fine but I'm not sure how to increase it from the current pattern! Is there a good rule of thumb for adjusting for the size I want? Like, how many stitches should I start out with vs. what the book says? I'm not sure if I'm asking something that makes sense but the crux of the question is how do I size up a pattern meant for a men's medium into a men's large mittens size?

Proudly showed this to my German friend... Did not realize it looked like a certain groups lightning bolts until he told me 😅

(I searched this subreddit a few times and didn't see any discussion about this. Sorry if I missed it.)

I learned knitting in order to make myself wool socks. I've made several pairs with (slightly thick) fingering weight yarn. They're super comfortable to wear, but I can't wear them with whatever shoes I want. I have to be able to adjust the fit of my shoes to allow for the fact that they're thicker than modern socks. Are nalbound socks thicker than handknit socks if they use the same yarn, or is the thickness relatively comparable?

I also know crochet, and I can't stand the feeling of walking on crochet stitches made using thin yarn. Slipper socks and bed socks are fine, but they aren't suitable for wearing inside shoes. Would you say that the feeling of nalbinding is comfortable to stand on?

I live in a small community and went to a Garage sale at a local business.

I saw a winter hat and recognized the stitch. I thought to myself, hey someone else knows Nalbinding! I picked it up and slowly realized it was one I made for my husband. At first I thought maybe the store asked for donations and was a little hurt. Anyway, I bought it for two dollars as the money was going to charity.

I then thought more about it and thought my husband probably went to that store in the past and left the hat somewhere and it went to the lost and found.

I told my husband about the garage sale and showed him the hat. He got this super confused look on his face and said it looked like the one I made him. I said it was, which made him even more confused. I suggested he may have left it behind and didn’t realize it and it was in their lost and found and never retrieved. He figured that must have been it and was really glad I happened yo have gone and checked out the garage sale so that someone else didn’t get it.

I keep reading that Nålbinding is much slower than knitting or crochet. I find this interesting; in my experience, nalbinding, while “slower” than crochet, has the same stitch height as a hdc or dc crochet stitch—which covers a lot of real estate per stitch—I just don’t find nalbinding to be dramatically slower (I personally enjoy the act of knitting more than crochet). I doubt any modern nalbinder chooses to nalbind for speed reasons 😆. How about you? What is your experience? Do you find nalbinding to be slow?

I’ve noticed that Omani socks were made with Mammen stitch which basically it’s the same one found in Egypt and Denmark and ofc the same connection stitch,but I wonder how did they make the socks like that,did they work flat like to and fro in order to make the body of it or did they change the color using 2 needles or only 1 needle??

HI all, I have several needles and recently one of them broke while I was travelling and it was in a bag just poked into my ball of yarn, which is silly admittedly. However, I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for storage which I don't have to personally make. I have a little wish for a leather tube with a cap on it but I can't be bothered making it as I am too busy nalbinding. Any suggestions of things I can use found around the house would be magical. Some of my needles are quite long, so would have to be long enough to keep those in good nick. Thanks!

I know it’s not really known for being stretchy but I feel like some stitches must be stretchier than others. I did a google search and was brought to a post here from 3 years ago that says buttonhole is stretchy, but when I looked up a YouTube tutorial it was actual quite dense with no stretch at all. I don’t know if there is another buttonhole stitch or if they just misremembered the name.

I’m currently making a hat in oslo and I wanted to attempt a slightly stretchier stitch for the brim to make it fit snug with some stretch. I’m using fairly thin yarn and tensioning with my thumb so it does have a bit of stretch already, but not quite what I’m going for.

My first idea was to just pick up stitches and make 1x1 rib with knitting, but that feels like cheating. It’s my first project so I’d like it to be 100% nalbinding before I start experimenting with splicing crafts.