...and Nalbinding

Unfortunately I seem to have a cold or some such thing. I have a headache, my throat is scratchy and I don't feel very good at all. But you shall hear about my adventures anyway!

I told you that I frogged Wheelie, but I also restarted it and knit maybe 3 1/4 repeats of the 24 row pattern.

I found my size 0 dpn from the gray sock in a most unlikely place this morning. (And I almost typed "most unlickly place" That would be very odd....)

I also did some nalbinding this weekend. I had, as I mentioned back a while ago, tried it with Wool Ease, but it didn't work out. But over this last Thanksgiving weekend, I had the idea-Everyone seems to think you ought to use wool singles, so why not use this Mauch Chunky you bought for fulling/felting back in May when you went to KnitWits? It's the color Kiwi and I made up a pattern as I went along. (Oh and I know it's off-topic, but aren't the little watermelon and sunflower dresses cute?) If you're interested and you don't know how to nalbind, you might go to Phiala's String Page (link on the sidebar or just click on the name, which leads you to the exact page.)-I learned from the tutorial there. Actually, you need to look at the tutorial so that you'll know what I'm talking about in several places.

An Interesting Nalbound Potholder

A beginner's pattern, but a bit of prior practice is recommended (not much, just practice what is shown in the tutorial once or twice.)

(Notes: This looks rather like a mitten/glove thumb or finger and is used for holding pot handles. I cannot vouch for the use of a nalbinding needle in this pattern. I used what I had on hand, which was a large yarn needle. This pattern is based on my experience with crochet and what I learned in the above tutorial. I am sort of making up my own way of writing instructions. Please email me or leave a comment if you need help. Also, I am a beginner at this and cannot say that this is at all proper nalbinding, but anyway... By the way, when you need to join in a new length of yarn since nalbinding is done with fairly short lengths of yarn, I would recommend using moisture, warm hands, and a rolling action to felt the lengths of yarn together.)

You will need:

Some Mauch Chunky or comparable other yarn (such as handspun or the Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride that KnitWits says it it just like without the mohair) MUST NOT BE SUPERWASH! MUST BE FELT-ABLE!
A needle, the large type, or possibly a nalbinding needle

For felting:
A large bowl or other container in which to work
Hot and cold water
A bit of gentle soap if you like.

First, work a circular beginning as shown in the tutorial, working somewhere between 5-10 O/UO stitches into the ring, whatever you feel is right. Pull the starting end to tighten the ring. Leave it fairly long so that you can weave it in later. Once you have worked enough stitches and are ready to do another round, make a loop into the upper loop of your first stitch. Work two of the O/UO sts into each of the loops until you have reached the beginning of the round. Now, start a new round with a loop into the first loop of the previous round. This time, though, work *1 O/UO into loop, 2 O/UO into next loop repeat from * to end of round. Here, you can do one of two things:

1) You can continue increasing to make a larger potholder or something else.
(For this pattern, I followed this system:
1: stitch into ring
2: 2 sts in every stitch
3: *1 st in 1st st, 2 sts in next st*
4: *1 st in each of next 2 sts, 2 sts in next st*
5: * 1 st in each of next 3 sts, 2 sts in next st*
Et cetera...
If you need help, again, email me.)

If you choose to take this path, you're going to be pretty much on your own. You can email me but I can't guarantee I'll be able to help.

2) You can do as I did and start the round upon round without any more increases.

In the latter case, work until you feel that your potholder is just slightly longer than it needs to be. It will look like a mitten/glove thumb or finger. Then end it. (I wasn't sure what to do, so I just made a little stitch into the start of the round and then ran the end through the stitches. You might note that after a while, I just started doing continuous rounds as you might do when crocheting in the round. ) Weave the beginning end in and felt lightly by agitation in hot water(will be in large bowl-add the soap here if you want.), dips in cold water, and running water on your piece.

Do you think a Knitter's/Fiber Addict's Twelve Days of Christmas would be interesting?