--- a/content/blog/2026/08/learning-nalbinding.markdown Sat Aug 29 20:59:45 2026 -0400
+++ b/content/blog/2026/08/learning-nalbinding.markdown Sat Aug 29 22:02:47 2026 -0400
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@
:draft t)
Off and on over the past year or so I've been learning [nalbinding][nalbinding]
-(also called "needlebinding" (and a lot of other things)). Nalbinding is a very
-old fiber art which predates knitting by thousands of years. In modern times
-it's not nearly as popular as knitting or crochet, so it can be difficult to
-find good resources to learn from.
+(also called "needlebinding" and a lot of other things), a fiber art which
+predates knitting by thousands of years. It's been a very rewarding, relaxing,
+and cozy hobby (especially in the winter months), but it's not nearly as popular
+as knitting or crochet so it can be difficult to find good resources to learn
+from.
In this post I'm going to describe how I learned, some of the things I've made,
and generally just write down all the things I wish I could have told myself
@@ -495,37 +496,126 @@
### A Nicer Needle
-Where to buy on etsy
+If you decide you like nalbinding and want to do it more, you'll probably want
+to get a more suitable needle for yourself. You can find people selling
+nalbinding needles on Etsy. I've bought a few needles from [LykosLeather on
+Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/LykosLeather?search_query=nalbinding) and have
+been happy with them for the price. For the price of one skein of yarn you can
+easily get one or two bone, horn, or wood needles of different lengths and
+experiment to see what you prefer.
-making improvements
+It's worth noting that when you buy a nalbinding needle from a shop on Etsy for
+a pretty cheap price (in the $10 range) it will come in a state that's maybe
+a little rougher than you expect. It might not be perfectly symmetrical, there
+may be some rough edges (especially inside the eye), and so on. I think this is
+pretty reasonable for a $10 purchase, and it gives you an opportunity to
+customize your needle a bit yourself. Creating and modifying my own tools is
+one the joys of crafting for me (which explains why I love programming so much),
+so I had a fun couple of evenings turning some basic needles into needles that
+are *mine* and are just how I like them. Just remember to wear a mask when
+you're sanding, especially if your needle is bone or horn — you probably don't
+want to be breathing in bone dust.
-video about needle structure
+One helpful resource for this was [this video from Valhalla
+Ironworks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmsRZC5bLc) about making
+a nalbinding needle from scratch, specifically the parts where he explains why
+there's a notch in the back of the needle (to provide extra relief for the
+folded yarn). Both of my favorite needles have this relief notch in the back,
+which I added using sandpaper wrapper around a small metal rod. It's a small
+thing, but it really does help the yarn glide more smoothly through the loops
+(especially thicker yarn) and it makes them feel like *mine*.
### Other Helpful Things
-Spray bottle
+While a needle and yarn is all you really *need* for nalbinding, there are a few
+other little inexpensive things you can pick up that will provide some
+easy quality-of-life improvements. Here are a few that I've found useful.
+
+I picked up a small spray bottle for the water I use for felting. This is quick
+and easy to use (2-3 quick sprays on the ends is enough to felt them nicely) and
+it's easy to carry around without worrying that it'll leak.
+
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
-Hair brush cleaner
+When felting the ends together to join them, all the tutorials will say to "play
+with the ends a bit" or "tease the ends apart" to fray them, so the fibers of
+both strands can intermingle better. I find this difficult for some yarns,
+probably because I keep my fingernails very short. My partner got me a little
+metal comb that's designed to be a hair brush cleaner, but works great for
+combing apart the ends of yarn. It does pull out some of the strands in the
+process, but that's actually a *good* thing: you want the ends to be a little
+thinner than the actual yarn because you overlap them to felt them, so if
+they're full thickness the felt point will be a thicker bump in the finished
+work. The comb works great, and it's tiny and really easy to carry around.
-d12 for stitch counting
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
-stitch markers
+When shaping things with nalbinding you'll need to increase or decrease after
+a certain number of stitches (e.g. "do 6 normal stitches and then decrease").
+Eventually you'll be able to do stitches fast enough that you can just count
+them out without getting lost, but when I was first learning I often struggled
+with individual stitches enough that I would lose count of how many I had done
+since the last increase. I solved this by adding a 12-sided die (called a "d12"
+by D&D players) to my nalbinding kit, so I could put it on the table and rotate
+the number every stitch, moving it back to 1 after the increase. You can get
+a d12 at any local tabletop game store (though if you're reading this blog I bet
+the odds are pretty high that there's already one in your house somewhere).
+A d20 would work just as well, I've just never needed to count that high when
+nalbinding yet.
-yarn cutter/scissors
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
+
+As I mentioned earlier you can use standard safety pins for stitch markers, but
+you can also buy slightly more compact ones in a yarn shop. I keep a little
+pill case that has a few of them and my d12 in my kit.
+
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
-crochet hook to pull ends through
+Most nalbinding tutorials will tell you to tear or break lengths of yarn off the
+ball instead of cutting it cleanly, to help it felt better, but if you have the
+little comb I mentioned earlier you don't really need to do that, and some yarn
+is kind of hard to tear. I got this little yarn cutter thing from the yarn
+store which works great and is very small and safe to carry (the blades are very
+well shielded by the metal fob). Alternatively you could get a pair of
+embroidery shears, which are often in the shape of a pretty bird, but are
+a little bulkier (and more likely to raise questions if you try to carry them on
+a plane).
+
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
-bag to hold tools in
+When you finish a project you'll want to weave the final end of the yarn back
+into the nalbinding so it doesn't hang off. I picked up a cheap little crochet
+hook for a couple of bucks which I've found helpful for pulling the yarn back
+through the loops.
+
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
+
+And finally, once you've gotten a bunch of these little things you'll want some
+kind of bag to hold them all in. I use a pencil bag, but anything that makes you
+happy will work!
+
+[](/static/images/blog/2026/08/full/TODO.jpg)
### Stitches
-I like Dalarna
-
-### Yarns
+Once you've done a few projects you'll probably be itching to try one of these
+other stitches you've heard about. Give it a shot and experiment! I personally
+love the Dalarna stitch because of how asymmetrical the sides are: all the
+texture is shunted off to one side, leaving the other side very flat. I really
+like it for scarves, because when you fold the scarf in half to wear it with the
+ridges on the inside they interlock and hold the scarf together really well.
-Visit the yarn store
+If you haven't already, when you start searching for nalbinding resources on the
+internet you'll almost certainly run into
+[Neulakintaat](https://www.en.neulakintaat.fi/), which is probably the most
+extensive nalbinding resource around. Once you're comfortable with the basics
+of nalbinding and doing Oslo stitch fluently, check our her videos to see how to
+do many, *many* more kinds of stitch. I found those videos difficult to
+understand as a complete beginner, but now that I've learned more I find myself
+referencing them if I need to remember how to do a particular stitch.
-### Multiple Colors in Parallel
+### Multiple Colors
+
multiple colors just by joining new ones
@@ -537,10 +627,33 @@
## Communities
-Reddit
+Before I go, I wanted to point you at some of the communities I've found online
+for Nalbinding. These days nalbinding is a small, weird hobby, but one of the
+dreams of the early internet was to allow people with small, weird hobbies to
+find each other. Despite the best efforts of the advertising industry and
+venture capitalists, that dream still hasn't been completely stamped out, and
+there are a couple of places to find other nalbinders online.
-Ravelry
+Unfortunately the most popular place to talk about nalbinding online these days
+is a Facebook group. I dislike most social media these days, but Facebook is
+*particularly* distasteful to me, so I'm not going to link to it. I'm sure you
+can find the nalbinding group on there if you search.
-Facebook
+As an alternative, Reddit's [r/nalbinding](https://www.reddit.com/r/Nalbinding/)
+is relatively active (and Reddit isn't *quite* as awful as Facebook (yet)). If
+you have a specific question, there's a decent chance you'll get an answer if
+you post it in `r/nalbinding`.
+[Ravelry](https://www.ravelry.com/) is a website for fiber art. Unfortunately
+they've never added support for a `nalbinding` tag, so nalbinders have to mistag
+their work as knitting or crochet, but there *is* a [Nalbinders on
+Ravelry](https://www.ravelry.com/groups/nalbinders-on-ravelry) group on the site
+that still has occasional activity. I like scrolling through the projects in
+that group for inspiration.
+I've mentioned a few YouTube channels already, but searching for "nalbinding" or
+"needlebinding" on YouTube will give you many more.
+
+And finally, not everything has to be contained on a social media platform.
+Search the web for nalbinding and you'll still find personal websites sharing
+their niche interests, keeping the dream of the early internet alive.