NOW: Setesdal Mittens NF.1913-0863AB

Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week comes from Valle in Setesdal, Norway. This pair of mittens was apparently accessioned into the Norsk Folkemuseum’s inventory in 1913. They are more broadly recognized in the nalbinding community because one of them appears on the cover of Odd Nordland’s book “Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting”¹ which is the source of the second specific attempt at a classification system for nalbound structures.

Object: Pair of mittens decorated with a nalbound strip and embroidery in the style typical of Valle in Setesdal, Norway.

Description: White mittens with red, and possibly light green based on related mittens, embroidery on the cuffs and thumb.² The decoration also includes a separate chain of nalbinding that is attached with embroidery in a wavy pattern. The mittens are 27.5 cm long and 16 cm wide³ (10 ²¹/₆₄ inches by 6 ¹⁹/₆₄ inches.

Dated to: pre-1913⁴

Find location: Valle⁵ in the Setesdal valley in Norway

Material: Wool⁶

Stitch(es) used: 6³² in Nordland’s classification system.⁷ More recognizably F1 UOOO/UUUOO in modified Hansen’s classification.⁸

Inventory number: NF.1913-0863AB⁹

Current location: Norsk Folkemuseum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023139001/vott

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Nordland, Odd. Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting. Studia Norvegica no. 10. Oslo: Oslo University Press, 1961. No ISBN listed in Book.

Photographs:

Related mittens from Valle in Setesdal:
NF.1911-0928AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023136087/vott
NF.1950-0696AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023181433/vott
NF.1992-1720AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023223523/vott
NBF2012-1018 https://digitaltmuseum.no/011024089933/vott

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1. Knotless Netting is an older term used to describe nalbound structures prior to the borrowing of the term Nalbinding into English. It was used to differentiate nalbound structures from netted structures. However, it did not apparently recognize that nalbound structures are also types of knots; just loose knots compared to the hard knots used in netting. ↩︎
2. Color based on data and color pictures of related objects as neither Nordland nor the museum’s online record specify the colors of this particular pair of mittens. ↩︎
3. Dimensions Value: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023139001/vott Accessed 17 Mar 2024 ↩︎
4. No dating was provided, but the inventory number implies accession in 1913. ↩︎
5. Bruk: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023139001/vott Accessed 17 Mar 2024 and Nordland 1961, Pgs. 70 & 71. ↩︎
6. Material: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023139001/vott Accessed 17 Mar 2024 ↩︎
7. Nordland 1961, Pgs. 70 & 71. ↩︎
8. Larry Schmitt initially used a modified Hansen’s classification moving the connection stitch to the front to recognize that the connection to the previous row occurs prior to the intralacing of most stitches. I have continued this practice in my translations between classification systems. Technically Nordland’s 6³² could be either F1 UOOO/UUUOO or F1 OUUU/OOOUU as it only describes the number of loops before a change in intralacement, not the order of intralacement, but the first is more likely given the predominant intralacing patterns. ↩︎
9. Identifier: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023139001/vott Accessed 17 Mar 2024 ↩︎