Category: Mitten

NOW: Oslo mitten C28155

Last week I had the distinct pleasure to go visit a well known mitten that rather recently has been placed on display again in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition at the Historical Museum in Oslo. And thus, the Oslo mitten joins the Nalbound Object of the Week series.

Anne Marie Decker pointing to the Oslo mitten on display in the Historical Museum in Oslo. Photo Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024

Object: Oslo Mitten

Description: An adult sized mitten made of wool with damage at the base of the thumb and palm areas.

Dated to: 11th century,1 medieval. Ca. 1025-1125 CE2

The exhibition label for the Oslo mitten in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition at the Historical Museum in Oslo. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024.

Find location: The mitten was found during the 1926 excavation of the old town of Oslo on a layer of wood chips under the wooden flooring of a narrow passage between houses. This part of town was built in the 11th century.3

Material: wool4

Stitch(es) used: Nordland published the stitch used as 412 in his classification system5 which most likely translates to the stitch commonly known as Oslo and classified in Hansen’s notation as UO/UOO F1. However, further examination is warranted as the surface texture does not match. The surface texture more closely resembles the Mammen stitch, F2 UOO/UUOO.

Inventory number: C28155

Current location: Historical Museum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.unimus.no/portal/#/things/fbbd3006-2407-498e-a527-a18f62fadb2a

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Claßen-Büttner, Ulrike. Nadelbinden – Was ist denn das? Geschichte und Technik einer fast vergessenen Handarbeit. Norderstedt: Books on Demand GmbH, 2012. ISBN 978-3-8482-0124-2.

Claßen-Büttner, Ulrike. Nalbinding – What in the World Is That? History and Technique of an Almost Forgotten Handicraft. Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2015. ISBN 978-3-7347-7905-3.

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

Photographs:

The museum catalog has 3 very nice zoomable photos. The two color photos are of one side and the black and white of the other.

Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024
Detail of the thumb of the Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024
The display case in which the Oslo mitten is currently located in the NOREGR – Medieval Stories exhibition. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024
Detail of the cuff of the Oslo Mitten. Photo: Anne Marie Decker 18 April 2024

Photo taken during previous exhibition: https://images.app.goo.gl/jji31ErrTx8A1o739

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  1. Nordland 1961, pg 43. ↩︎
  2. Dating listed on the item description for the mitten as on display in the NOREGR exhibition in the Historical Museum. ↩︎
  3. Nordland 1961, pg 43 and https://www.unimus.no/portal/#/things/fbbd3006-2407-498e-a527-a18f62fadb2a Accessed 29 April 2024. ↩︎
  4. Nordland 1961, pg. 43. ↩︎
  5. Nordland 1961, pgs 42 & 43. ↩︎

NOW: Setesdal Mittens NF.1913-0863AB

The Nalbound Object of the Week features a pair of mittens from Valle, Setesdal, Norway, dated pre-1913, and currently located in the Norsk Folkemuseum. The mittens are decorated in the typical Valle style and are made of wool. They are recognizable from their use as the cover illustration on Nordland’s Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting. For more information, visit the museum’s catalog.

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.

NF.1913-0863AB mittens from Valle in Setesdal in Norway.
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA

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:

NF.1913-0863A mitten from Valle in Setesdal in Norway. This is most likely the specific mitten used for the image on the from of Nordland’s “Primitive Scandinavian Textiles in Knotless Netting.”
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA

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

NF.1911-0928AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023136087/vott
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
NF.1911-0928AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023136087/vott
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
NF.1950-0696AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023181433/vott
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA

NF.1992-1720AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023223523/vott
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
NF.1992-1720AB https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023223523/vott
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC BY-SA
Several other nalbound mittens from Valle in Setesdal Norway.
NF.1911-0665AB
Photo: Norsk Folkemuseum CC-BY-SA https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023135826/vott
Annlaug K. Haugen sitting with her nalbinding in 1939. Identifier: NF.13609-020
Photo: Grostøl, Anna / Norsk Folkemuseum Public Domain https://digitaltmuseum.no/011013438128/valle-setesdal-aust-agder-1939-portrett-av-annlaug-k-haugen-som-sitter
Nalbinding by Annlaug K. Haugen taken in 1939. Identifier: NF.13609-036
Photo: Grostøl, Anna / Norsk Folkemuseum Public Domain https://digitaltmuseum.no/011013438154/valle-setesdal-aust-agder-1939-nalebinding-annlaug-k-haugen
Many thanks to Ingela Andersson Lindberg for finding these additional Valle mitten images. It looks like there’s an interesting unpublished study in Anna Grostøl’s notes to be investigated and another reference to track down: Fossnes, Heidi: Håndplagg til bunader og folkedrakter. Oslo 2003. ISBN 82-496-0187-4. s. 17.

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  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 ↩︎

NOW: Vasa mitten 21116

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

Anne Marie Decker as she finds the Vasa mitten and its outer casing on display in the Vasa Museum.

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

Only one of several beautiful and detailed photographs available on the digitaltmuseum.se link. Scroll past the photos of the leather mittens to find them.
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.]

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. Other Information: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
  2. See Identifier 09184 https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026380762/pung and 27908IX https://digitaltmuseum.se/021026380969/textil ↩︎
  3. About: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
  4. Rising, Catrin ed. The Story of Vasa. The Swedish National Maritime Museums. Pg. 5. ISBN 978-91-984713-3-5. ↩︎
  5. Find Place: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
  6. Techniques: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎
  7. Techniques: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011024785035/vante ↩︎