The Vikings are coming! Every February half-term, York sees its annual invasion of Vikings, who come to the city to help celebrate its Viking heritage: during the Viking Festival. It is a brilliant week, full of activities, talks, traders and demonstrations all based around, well, Vikings. The week ends with a re-enactment of a Viking battle and massive firework-display (that’s on Saturday if any of you can get here for that). None of that pillaging, or the likes here! I have a really soft-spot for the Vikings, as a period of English history, as I spent several years (three to be exact) dressing up as one (and getting paid for it) working at a local outdoor classroom, Murton Park. Just in case you don’t believe me…
That’s me: with TG! It was during my time at Murton Park that I got really interested in textiles, historical textiles. It’s an interest that has never really left. No crocheting back then though: it didn’t come to England until the sixteenth(ish) century. I did learn to tablet weave and use the lucet: then finger braid when I moved to the fifteenth century. If you look closely at my Viking apron, you can see some of my tablet weaving: I made that! While I was working as a Viking I did dabble in nålebinding (Viking knitting). I wasn’t very good. To be a good Viking wife you should know at least twelve different nålebinding stitches: I mastered two! I’ll let you work that out, as to where it would have left me on the marriage front – off with a random Anglo-Saxon no doubt! Fast-forward to 2014. I’m no longer a Viking, but still fascinated by the period and historical textiles. So, imagine my joy when I saw a nålebinding course advertised as part of the Viking Festival.
The course was brilliant. Fantastic. Excellent. We had the most amazing tutor Mari Wickets from Gothenburg Museum. What Mari doesn’t know about nålebinding: we probably don’t need to know. She made it look so easy. After a couple of false-starts my fingers seemed to remember what to do, and I was away…
Mari even taught me to do an advance (yes advance stitch) where you use your thumb and seem to create two rows at once. For someone like me, who likes things done quickly, this was genius…
I now know that there are literally hundreds of different stitches: so I have a very long way to go. Not just twelve stitches like I thought. I think the very best thing about nålebinding is the freedom you have with it: as Mari kept saying you’re the pattern creator. This appealed to me: you know I’m not one for following patterns. There is an advanced class tomorrow, but I already have plans: a lovely day out with my friend, mooching around charity shops and lunching. So I guess I’ll spend the next year practicing and hoping that Mari comes back to York next year. What was brilltinat was that by looking at how the nålebinding stitches are formed, you can really see how knitting and crochet developed.
The morning was truly special: it brought back some happy memories from my previous job and with Mari’s infectious enthusiasm inspired me back to early Medieval textiles.
Thank you Mari, Thank you Mari’s friend (I’m soooo sorry I’ve forgotten your name), thank you Zoe and thank you Vikings!
Ps – I didn’t make the above, I just included these so you can see what the stitches look like and what can be made!
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