This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is the Vasa Mitten on display in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The wool mitten was found in a barrel with a pair of leather outer mittens in the remains of the ship Vasa which sank in 1628 CE.1 It is not the only mitten found on shipwrecks around this timeframe, nor is it the only nalbinding that was found on the Vasa. Simply the nalbound item on display; the rest are kept in the museum inventory.2
Object: Vasa Mitten
Description: A left mitten liner made of grey wool; loosely spun.3 The thumb is no longer attached to the mitten though it is placed in position for display. The fabric shows heavy fulling, although it is unknown if that was original or simply developed from wear and/or find circumstances.
Dated to: 10 August 1628 CE4 (no more recent than)
Find location: Vasa shipwreck, starboard side of the lower battery deck between beams 2 and 3 about 5.3 to 6.77 meters from the bow,5 Stockholm archipelago, Sweden
Material: single ply S-spun wool6
Stitch(es) used: Pending results of examination.
Stitch count 40 stitches/10 cm and 12 rounds/10 cm.7
Inventory number: 21116
Current location: The Vasa Museum https://www.vasamuseet.se/en
Link to museum catalog or other data: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante
Photo: Vasa Museum CC BY 4.0
The 1983 edition of Berit Westman’s Nålbindning: 12 varianter contained the first image of the Vasa mitten that I had seen. It was lovely to see it in person again in May of 2023; when I also got the chance to examine the other nalbinding found on the ship.
Some sources in which more information can be found:
Looström, Anne and Birgitta Stapf. “Tre Tusen Textilfragment : Från Wasan Söndagen Den 10 Augusti 1628.” Dissertation. 1983. [Note: I have not read this yet. It was recommended.]
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- Other Information: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
- See Identifier 09184 https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026380762/pung and 27908IX https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026380969/textil ↩︎
- About: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
- Rising, Catrin ed. The Story of Vasa. The Swedish National Maritime Museums. Pg. 5. ISBN 978-91-984713-3-5. ↩︎
- Find Place: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
- Techniques: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
- Techniques: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
I’m thinking how very warm such a combination of nalbinded mittens inside leather mittens would have been.
Out at sea, I expect wet leather mittens could be very cold and warm nalbound liners a lifesaver.
It was a very common combination in Scandinavia with woolen lining and leather outer mitten. Eventually nålbinding fell of the fashion in favour of quicker techniques like knitting or crochet (specially slip stitch/pjoning), but the double structure lasted until the modern working gloves/mittens.
I have been issued modern work gloves with knit liners myself.
Is it possible to tell what kind of stitch was used? Or is this too felted to see enough of the stitch structure?
Much of it is too fulled to tell, but there are areas where we can see which stitch family, if not specific stitch directly. I am hoping to spend some time reviewing my photographs to see if I can narrow it down further.
I like that you included a map of where the piece was found.
Thank you. Sometimes, like this one, it is easy. Others the location information is not so exact, so I am trying to decide if I should include the maps then; when location found may be simply a city, or worse just a country.