Reading craft blogs and tutorials is dangerous. I can't finish or even start half of my projects because there are just so many things I want to do, and I can't decide which one to do first!
Last night I discovered nalbinding while browsing One Pretty Thing, which is a site that gathers links to other craft tutorials. It's very handy when you're lacking inspiration, but I always end up bookmarking a bunch of sites and never doing the projects.
The article they linked to didn't actually have any information on how it was done, but the pictures were interesting enough that I looked it up, and I've been itching to try it ever since. Nalbinding is a yarncraft that predates both knitting and crochet, and tends to form very dense, warm fabric. It can easily be worked in the round, and the only tool required is a large yarn needle, which has earned it the monicker "single needle knitting". I've been thinking of starting with the York stitch, since it looks pretty easy!
My boyfriend had been wanting a hat like Finland from Scandinavia and the World wears, and since the craft is still popular there I'm going to see if I can nalbind one instead of knitting. I just need to find the right yarn now.. Nalbinding requires the entire length of the working yarn to pass through each stitch, so it uses short lengths of yarn that must be spliced together. Wool is great for this, but my stash of acrylics isn't very well suited to the project.
There's some links to get you started on Ask the Bellwether, and there's also a Ravelry group for people interested in it (login required).
..And I'm off to the yarn shop as soon as it opens!
~Mizu
