But it looks like… NESAT XIV 2021

I was honored to be able to present “But it looks like… methods for differentiating non-woven looped structures” at this year’s North European Symposium for Archeological Textiles (NESAT) conference. There were soo many very interesting papers, posters, and excellent discussions. I posted the abstract a few weeks ago, but I’m pleased to announce that my recording of the presentation is now uploaded and available for viewing on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pNqq2Z7vwgQ. Additional supplementary content, including short demonstration videos and other structural details, is available on my “But it looks like…” page at: https://nalbound.com/but-it-looks-like

But it looks like… methods for differentiating non-woven looped structures as presented at NESAT XIV on August 25th, 2021.

NESAT XIV was originally planned for May of 2020 in Oulu, Finland. Restrictions on travel due to COVID-19 led to delays, but we were finally able to hold the conference online via Zoom the week of August 23rd-26th, 2021. The presentations were pre-recorded and the scheduled sessions allowed for some excellent discussions. We got to learn about many amazing textiles and some very fascinating advances in textile science. A few of the videos are being made public and links to them are located here: https://www.nesatxiv.org/public-videos

Conference proceedings are planned to be published in 2022 in Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland. I am looking forward to some excellent papers being included.

International Nalbinding in Public Day – Sept 1st

My original plans to participate in the International Nalbinding in Public Day* this year were waylaid by Hurricane Ida working its way North. As a substitute, I recorded the first in a series of tips videos that I have planned.

In this video I show the simple start I use for nalbinding. I use the base row for Mammen (and Korgen, Müsen etc.) as an example, but it can be used as the base start for a number of variants. I show how to tell which loops are which, how to hold the loops while forming a new stitch, and what movements keep the nalbinding loops in position.

I hope you find it helpful and that today finds you happy, healthy, and warm.

* Today was the sixth annual World Wide International Nalbinding in Public Day

St. Simeon’s hat

I am slowly working on a catalog of nalbound items, but in the meantime wanted to let you know about one that is currently on display! My friend, Libby Cripps, visited Trier today and sent back pictures of St. Simeon’s nalbound hat.

St. Simeon was born in Sicily, but went to school in Constantinople. He then went to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and eventually Mt. Sinai in Egypt before living as a hermit near the Red Sea for a while. In 1026 CE he was sent to Rouen, France and after much roundabout travels ended up in Trier. He made one last pilgrimage to Jerusalem leaving in 1028 CE, but upon his return in 1030 CE he was enclosed in the Porto Negra (Black Gate) in Trier and lived as a recluse there until his death in 1035 CE.

Trier is located in Southwestern Germany near the border with Luxembourg and France. This hat is sometimes used as evidence of Viking Era nalbinding, but given St. Simeon’s life history and the fact that nalbinding of a similar structure has been found in Greece and in several objects in Egypt, that is a likely provenance. St. Simeon was in France/Germany for only two years of his life before he was enclosed shortly after returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The hat is currently in the Treasury of the Trier Cathedral. Visiting information can be found at: https://www.trier-info.de/en/museums/cathedral-treasury

For additional photographs from Libby’s trip to Trier, you can take a look at her Facebook page:

For a view of the entire hat: https://www.trierer-original.de/Uns-Trier/spektakulaere-Bauwerke/Porta-Nigra-51622.html Scroll down just under half the page to figure 4.2. Click on it for a larger/higher resolution photograph of the St. Simeon’s hat.

Another image of St. Simeon’s hat

I’ll be pulling together more information regarding the cap in the future, but wanted to share these lovely photographs that Libby so kindly let me use.

NESAT XIV 2021

Yesterday I finished recording my presentation, But it looks like… methods for differentiating non-woven looped structures, for NESAT XIV. Due to COVID-19 and the resultant travel restrictions, NESAT will be online this year. https://www.nesatxiv.org/ Looks like they’ve extended registration for just a few more days if you are interested in seeing it. The schedule has, as usual, a very interesting line up of papers. I’m really looking forward to the discussions next week.

Cover page for my presentation. Includes a chain with a crochet hook working one end and a nalbinding needle working the other with the title, But it looks like... methods for differentiating non-woven looped structures, on it. Below that on the left is a sample of cross-knit structure fabric half knitted with the knitting needles at the top and half nalbound producing the same structure with the nalbinding needle at the bottom. My name, Anne Marie Decker, NESAT XIV, and the dates of the conference, August 23-28, 2021, are in the middle. On the bottom right is a slip stitch structure fabric half crocheted using a flat hook, still in the fabric at the top, and half nalbound still with the nalbinding needle in place at the bottom.
.

Abstract: The correct identification of the structure of a specimen of archaeologically recovered fabric and the technique(s) used to produce it, are fundamental to the understanding of its historical context and significance. However, the surface textures of looped fabric cannot always be associated unambiguously with specific techniques and there can be several ways to produce a given primary structure. Instantiations of this have been dealt with cursorily in the prior literature but illustrations of distinctive secondary structural attributes and how to recognize them are sparse.

This presentation attempts to clarify two such points. One compares the surface structure of fabric produced by cross-knit nalbinding with that produced by twisted-stitch knitting, both of which are represented in the extant corpus. The other compares the definitive structure of slip stitch crochet as produced by its eponymous tool and technique, with the same structure speculatively produced as nalbinding.

The diagnostic details include the direction of work as seen in the fabric structure, which can differ between candidate techniques. The same applies to increases and decreases, initial and final rows, pickups, joins, transitions between stitch variants, and outright errors. The suggested methodology includes the examination of both actual archaeologically recovered fabric and its diagrammatic representation.

The Sisters Interview

Today I’ll be interviewed by The Sisters Interview group starting at 9pm EDT as part of their Branch of Laurels series.

While this is from the perspective of the Middle Ages and Renaissance recreation group I participate in, it will show how I came to become an Independent Researcher focusing on Nalbinding around the world. The Sisters particularly asked me to focus on my travels to see extant objects. So there will be lots of stories about that; illustrated with pictures (some of the finds themselves where copyright allows).

If you watch the live version, there will be the opportunity to submit questions. The interview is being recorded and will be available on Facebook and YouTube (after a few days).

Link to the Facebook live event: https://fb.me/e/1m4cgi6NR

“Coole Socke” – Visiting the Museum der Kulturen, Basel

Back in January of 2019, I had the honor of meeting up with Cary Karp to examine several items that had caught our attention in the significant collection of “nalbound” socks in the Museum der Kulturen, Basel.

They interviewed us and posted a lovely blog post about our visit with additional photographs. Direct link is here: https://www.mkb.ch/de/services/blog/2019/q1/sockenforscher.html

Coole Socke: Ein Hoch auf die Häkelkunst der alten  Ägypter by 
Andrea Mašek
Photo credit: Ruth Decker

While we both had separate reasons for wanting to visit this particular collection, it was the baby sock, Inv. No. III 16705, that brought us to arrange a joint visit as it appeared to be of a structure that has previously been misattributed as nalbound. Much to our amusement, a baby has clearly been in that sock! When I inserted the endoscope to get a picture of the inside of the toe to assist with understanding the structural details (yes, the fabric of this one is still quite flexible), my view was obscured by fuzz.

While there have been delays, Cary and I have been working on writing up our findings regarding the misattributed baby sock (pictured). My reports on the details of the nalbound socks in their collection are also in the works.

As reported in Cary’s blog post shortly after, https://loopholes.blog/2019/01/the-second-bootee/, the baby sock made it into both of our presentations at the TAES seminar a few days later. I’ve already posted the link to my presentation, Charting the Nalbinding of the Nile, here. The baby sock shows up briefly on slide 17 at about minute 26:47.   The seminar had some issues with recording causing Cary’s presentation to be in one file with the prior unrelated presentation. Thus Cary’s presentation, The Museological Value of Misattribution, begins at minute 18:47 of that recording with his slides starting shortly thereafter.

We are very grateful to the Museum der Kulturen, Basel for the opportunity to examine these socks.

Cary has also written a blog post and subsequent article on a pair of baby booties from late 18th century Scotland that were also misattributed as nalbinding in the 1950’s: https://loopholes.blog/2018/11/two-bootees/

Earlier I discussed the dangers of insufficient understanding of the the variety of looped techniques and how to differentiate them. I am preparing a presentation for NESAT XIV that addresses the issue of identifying the textile technique used based on the structural details and surface textures (including common surface texture confusions) entitled “But it looks like… methods for differentiating non-woven looped structures.”

The Textile Museum in Washington D.C.

The Textile Museum is working to put images of its collection online. Luckily that now includes multiple Islamic Era Egyptian socks. Beautiful photos of the blue and white cotton knitted socks and several compound nalbound socks.

The pilot site does not yet have their complete textile collection, but it does have several stunning examples of blue and white stranded knitting (interlooping) and four nalbound (interconnected looping) socks to add to the list of the Egyptian corpus. There is also one slip-stitch crochet sock that is going to require additional investigation into its provenance.* The catalog data is not necessarily up to date, which is not surprising given the volume and speed with which they are entering the records. They also have several Andean artifacts of interest as well.

Note: The pilot site doesn’t seem to react well to Facebook. So if you are viewing it there, you may get the same sock repeated. Try viewing it via WordPress or a different browser.

Knitted socks: Open loop stranded stockinette

Tube: two blues and white Arabic writing
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=1259

Sock: alternating leaves zigzag. Heel missing and some damage https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=1443

Sock: solidly patterned in a large gauge
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=3360

Sock: zigzag and writing stripes
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=6216

Sock: two blues & white entirely patterned sock, diamonds, triangles, writing, eight pointed star
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=8239

Tube: vertical stranded stripes with bands of horizontal S and writing
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=9443

Fragment: white with writing on bands
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=10840

Fragment: white with bands of alternating horizontal hearts and scrolls
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=10885

Child’s sock with deer
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=10958

Sock: bands of multiple diamonds. Missing most of the foot
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=13430

Sock: bands of writing
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=13698

Sock toe: two color bands, both dark blue and white and dark and light blue
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=15064

Tube: Bands of opposing hearts vertical
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=15399

Tube: bands of overlapping circles
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=17230

Nalbound socks: Compound nalbinding

Fragment: Toe and Instep cream colored: https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=21310

Sock: Cream with two stripes of blue near heel, potentially repair? https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=11119

Sock: Cream with brown toe and stripes near heel. Reddish and green? remnants at the cuff. Clear repair with blue fabric at heel partially remaining. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=7021

Sock: Two toes, cream with pink & blue toes and a pink and blue roped edge https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=4595

Crochet sock: Front Loop Only Slip Stitch Crochet

The technique and shaping both belie the listed dating. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=19973
*This would not be the only time that a slip-stitch crochet sock was slipped into a lot as a nalbound object. Such miss-identifications and resultant dating assumptions based on said miss-identification severely complicate research into the history and transmission of both crochet and nalbinding. Further discussions at https://nalbound.com/2019/05/03/nalbindings-myriad-of-variant-possibilities-and-the-dangers-of-insufficient-understanding-of-other-looped-textile-techniques/ and https://loopholes.blog/2019/04/crochetedness-nalboundness/ and https://www.mkb.ch/de/blog/2019/q1/sockenforscher.html

Andean Cross-Knit Looping variant

Nazca fringe band: https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=50046

Nazca Faces:
1. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=49784
2. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=49696
3. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=49611
4. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=49546

Nazca Bird & Flowers:
In the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=47959

Nazca Birds & Beans:
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=48993

Nazca Beans:
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=14862

People with Fans:
1. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=47772
2. https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=48676

Nazca, a really nice small fragment so the photo blows it up really nicely:
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=50471

Sihuas simple looping bag:
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=49780

One of several lovely forgeries: (Clearly crochet)
https://de1.zetcom-group.de/MpWeb-mpWashingtonGeoWashUniv/v?mode=online&objectId=59128

And of course a large number of other fascinating textiles.

A nalbound insole? in Stockholm’s Medeltidsmuseet

I got a lovely present from my friend, Cary Karp, this week. He sent me a link to this video from the Medeltidsmuseet in Stockholm with a bit of nalbinding in it. https://www.facebook.com/medeltidsmuseet/videos/3047349822025268/

@ Medeltidsmuseet
Digital visning: Nålbindning [Digital Display: Nalbinding]
Nålbindning kan dateras minst tusen år bakåt i tiden i Sverige. Hör vår museipedagog Anna Lilliehöök berätta mer om denna hantverksmetod. [Nalbinding can be dated back at least a thousand years in time in Sweden. Hear our museum educator Anna Lilliehöök tell more about this handwork method.]

Visningen är gratis och för att se den behöver du endast besöka vår sida med videoklipp: [The display is free and to see it you only need to visit our page with video clips:]
https://www.facebook.com/pg/medeltidsmuseet/videos
där du hittar sommarens digitala visningar i spellistan Digitala visningar [here you can find the summer’s digital displays in the play list Digital Displays]
https://www.facebook.com/medeltidsmuseet/playlist/250464109343324/

Du behöver inte registrera dig eller betala något. Bara att njuta, gilla och dela. [You don’t need to register or pay anything. Just enjoy, like, and share.]

The language is Swedish of course. Anna Lilliehöök gives a bit of a tour of the museum and several of the artifacts therein. At around minute 6:50, she brings out a leather sole with a nalbound fragment stitched to it. She speculates that it might be the remains of an insole or perhaps a sock/stocking to which a leather sole had been applied. She tells us that stitch used is Mammen; which is UOO/UUOO F2 in Hansen’s classification. The dating is 1300-1400 CE.

Edited to add this lovely photo taken by Cary Karp. You can even see the fine sewing thread mentioned.

https://loopholes.blog/wp-content/uploads/mammen-insole.jpg

Photo: Cary Karp

What I find very interesting is that the row appears to follow the edge of the leather sole. That direction under and along the arch does not match the row direction that I see in contemporaneous nalbound socks. So for now, I think I find the insole theory more plausible. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting find as it appears to have been sewn to the leather when the find was whole and new. The concept of an integral insole sewn into a leather turn-shoe is very intriguing.

For more information on the Medeltidsmuseet, their website is: https://medeltidsmuseet.stockholm.se/in-english/

You can actually tour the museum virtually through Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@59.3277462,18.069453,2a,75.1y,179.65h,89.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGTnLYZNksG4FqdeIL5u_zQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

More Camel Muzzles

Sometimes one just needs to share one’s notes. After January’s post on Nalbound Camel Muzzles, people were asking to see more of the brightly colored nose caps. I had gathered many more images of camels in muzzles while doing the research than I could possibly use in the post. And truthfully more since, as I too enjoy seeing them and am still curious as to the breadth of their usage. However, the aggregated volume of all those camel muzzles is just too large for another blog post.

Thus, this post is to direct you to my new site page, More Camel Muzzles, where you will find images and video clips, both embedded and linked depending permissions. Each link includes a brief description, including colors and location if known. So far, the images predominantly come from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Oman, but some appear in images from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. Unfortunately, many of the stock photos do not contain information as to where they were taken. Additionally, we have relatively few photos in general from certain regions, so their lack of inclusion may be due to a lack of access versus a lack of use.

The photos are broken out by category depending on how closely they could be identified. Starting with the nalbound muzzles where the images are close enough and clear enough to identify as worked in Mammen stitch (UOO/UUOO F2), both on and off a camel. Then those that can be identified as a Loop & Twist stitch (more often found across North Africa than Arabia), those identifiable as some form of Simple Looping follow. This section ends with a large collection of muzzles of the same style and appearance as the Mammen stitch muzzles (predominately), but the images are either too far away or insufficiently clear (or I was too tired at the time I added them) to be certain of the stitch determination.

Also included, because they are both interesting and to show how identifiable the nalbound muzzles are, is a selection of Not Nalbound Muzzles. Starting with the Ply-Split muzzles, a technique I first ran into with Peter Collingwood’s publications, this section also contains Crochet muzzles, which all appear to be from Turkey, and a brief selection of other styles of muzzles for comparison.

Now, on to More Camel Muzzles: https://nalbound.com/more-camel-muzzles/

Enjoy!

Egyptian sock in Edinburgh

Photograph by Cary Karp. Used with permission.

Searching for more examples of Romano-Coptic socks can lead to many surprises. A quick mention here, a random unidentified image there, the numbers go up as information is found and the numbers go down as disparate pieces are matched together. This is one of those cases where the numbers went down.

Searching through old catalogs of the early Egyptian collectors, I ran across a mention of a “knitted” Coptic sock in A Catalog of the Egyptian Antiquities in the possession of F. G. Hilton Price, Dir.S.A. As it was published in 1897, I was fairly certain that this reference was actually to a nalbound sock as the differences between nalbinding and knitting were not well known in the late 19th century.

“89. Sock, knitted in various coloured wools, with a receptacle formed for the great toe. Length 9 in. Coptic period. Ahmȋm.”

A Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Possession of F.G. Hilton Price. Page 14 (page 36 of the scan), Number 89.1

Not too long before that, I had run across an image of the bottom of a two-toed nalbound sock that had been saved without any identifying information. Tracking the image down led me to Dr. Margret Maitland, Principal Curator of the Ancient Mediterranean, and Head of the Mediterranean, Africa, Americas, and Oceania Section in the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, but no further information on the image.

Then, in October of 2018, I ran across another photo in my Twitter feed. It clearly was the other side of the same sock. And yet, still no identifying information; although it was obvious the sock had clearly undergone conservation since the original image.

The second image I found of this lovely sock in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. Added to my notes 10/1/2018.

By November 2018, my search had turned up a then recent entry for A.1911.315 into the National Museums Scotland’s Online Catalog. At the time, there was only one image of the sock available. However, the catalog entry did note that the sock was from the Hilton Price collection. So where I had thought I might have two socks to add to the corpus, I only had one. The numbers go up and the numbers go down as images show data pieces are not a match, that a mention is not actually nalbinding, or as in this case matches are made between separate mentions. (I am currently tracking around 110 separate items in the Romano-Coptic corpus, but the numbers go up and the numbers go down.)

As I was preparing my presentation, Charting the Nalbinding of the Nile, I reached out to Dr. Maitland to request permission to include a photo of this sock. She was kind enough to forward me twelve beautiful photographs to use in my research. These quickly made it into the online catalog for public viewing as well.

One of the earlier images released after conservation in preparation for display.

This lovely sock was one of the items to be included on display in World Cultures, Ancient Egypt Rediscovered, a new gallery that opened in February 2019. It was also reported in the news as one of the five most unusual objects in the three new galleries. See: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-47129600 and https://www.list.co.uk/article/107153-five-of-the-most-unusual-objects-from-the-national-museum-of-scotlands-new-galleries/

It is actually possible to see the sock on display, even now while the museums are closed, via a Google Arts & Culture tour: Google Museum View – Ancient Egypt Rediscovered Gallery. (Note: I set the link to take you directly to the sock case instead of the gallery entrance.) You can tour the entire National Museum of Scotland in the same way.

There are, as of this writing, 19 images of the sock available online in the the National Museum of Scotland’s catalog entry for this sock: https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/?item_id=404856. Several of them are quite close up. The sock clearly shows ridges evidencing a middle, not top edge, connection between rows (excluding in the back and forth short row construction of the heel). This is similar to, though likely not exactly the same connection as, the stitch described as being used in the 13th century nalbound fragment from Müsen, Germany;2 mentioned as it is a mid connection most likely familiar to nalbinders. It is also at least similar to, and quite possibly the same as, the stitch used in five Coptic socks currently located in the Museum der Kulturen in Basel, Switzerland.3 These are a Mammen/Korgen/Müsen base stitch with an M1 connection: UOO/UUOO M1.4

One might say the sock is inside out, although we do not know which side the maker and wearer intended to be the “right” side. The exterior of the sock is showing the technical back of the fabric as made. Most prominently this is noticeable in the ridging as the ridges of a mid connection are formed on the technical back as worked. The direction of the spiral start on the toe also indicates that the current exterior is the technical back as nalbinding is conventionally worked from left to right and the toe is spiraling right to left. Of the four socks using a visually similar stitch in the Museum der Kulturen, four show the ridges on the outside (two adult split toed socks, one undivided children’s sock, and one undivided incomplete children’s sock) and one has the ridges to the inside (undivided children’s sock).5

On April 7th, 2020, the BBC Scotland posted a ‘One Night in the Museum’ video on their YouTube channel that features the sock for the first minute. It shows some lovely closeups of the toes.

On May 7th 2020, we get an excellent article, The Lost Sock, from Miriam McLeod, the conservator, on the conservation process preparing it for display. https://blog.nms.ac.uk/2020/05/07/the-lost-sock/?fbclid=IwAR3FI85o1Xf-H9rnpBfzPFcrDbmV9x7BfkVQMmL7drideQoSboVjJooRMxs
It includes several additional images taken during the conservation process.

The National Museum of Scotland has a very nice Twitter feed with all kinds of interesting items.

Visitors to the Ancient Egypt Rediscovered exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland occasionally post additional photographs of the sock online as it is now on display. The one below was an exceptionally fine example posted as a response to a tweet of another sock from the Romano-Coptic corpus currently found in the British Museum.

My sincerest thanks to Jennifer Blaikie who posted the link to the “The Lost Sock” blog post where I would come across it and to Kirsten Donaldson Wheal who posted it where Jennifer would run across it. It gave me just the push I needed to finish up this post. If you, dear readers, happen to run across interesting nalbinding tidbits, I’d love to hear about them.

Footnotes/Additional sources:

  1. Hilton Price, Frederick George. A Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Possession of F.G. Hilton Price. London: B. Quaritch, 1897. Page 14 (page 36 of the scan), Number 89.
    http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/16500440.html (BW scan) or
    http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/sites/dl-pa.home.nyu.edu.awdl/files/catalogueofegypt00pric/catalogueofegypt00pric.pdf (Color scan)
  2. This stitch description has yet to be independently verified. However, it is the stitch most likely recognized by nalbinding craft workers as being a mid connection. Mid connections are unfortunately never specified as to taken from the left or right, but either is possible and distinguishing important. More information on the Müsen fragment is available in:
    Böttcher, Gudrun. “Nadelbindungstechnik: Mittelalterlicher Textilfund in Müsen – Nachbildunsversuch” in Experimentelle Archäologie: Bilanz 1991 Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland. Beiheft 6. by Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde und Vorgeschichte. Oldenburg: Isensee, 1991. ISSN: 0170-5776
  3. There are very few published photographs of the Museum der Kulturen’s collection of nalbound socks. The largest collection is in this article: Flury-v. Bültzingslöwen, Regina, and Dr. Edgar Lehmann. “Nichtgewebte Textilien vor 1400 / IX. Teil.” Wirkerei- und Strickerei- Technik: Fachzeitschrift für die Fabrikationspraxis und Betriebstechnik der Wirkerei- und Strickerei-Industrie 1955 (5): 38-41.
  4. Böttcher, Gudrun. “Nadelbindung – Koptische Textilien un Museum der Kulturen Basel und un Stadtischen Museum Simeonstift, Trier” in Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, No. 39 (Autumn) 2004.
    There is another fragment extant that appears to be in this stitch in Finland. It is described in Vahter , T . ‘Tuukkalan neulakinnas’, Finska Fornminnesforeningens Tidskrift X L, 1934: 236-243. See also: Vajanto, Krista. “Nålbinding in Prehistoric Burials – Reinterpreting Finnish 11th–14th-century AD Textile Fragments” in Sounds Like Theory. XII Nordic Theoretical Archaeology Group Meeting in Oulu 25.–28.4.2012. Edited by Janne Ikäheimo, Anna-Kaisa Salmi & Tiina Äikäs. Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland 2, 21–33. ISBN 978-952-67594-7-0 (PDF) ISBN 978-952-67594-6-3 (hardback)
  5. The Museum der Kulturen posted a blog post about our visit to see the collection in January of 2019. https://www.mkb.ch/de/blog/2019/q1/sockenforscher.html While the blog post focuses on another sock in the Museum der Kulturen collection, the images do include a few of the socks mentioned in the background.

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