Tag: 20th century

NOW: Skolt Sámi hat 19278

I’ve been hoping to find Sámi nalbinding as there is so much nalbinding in the region, but finding Sámi specific nalbinding has been a bit of a challenge. Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a Skolt Sámi hat collected in 1933 that was brought to my attention by Ingela Lindberg Anderson after her trip to the National Museum of Denmark. As she was trying to find more information about some of the objects she had seen on display, she ran across this hat in the online catalog.

Skolt Sámi hat ObjectId 19278 Item number K.782
Photo credit: Mads Kildegaard Nielsen – Nationalmuseet, Danmark CC-BY-SA

Object: Skolt Sámi hat

Description: A light brown, natural colored, nalbound hat. The National Museum of Denmark provides the following measurements: Largest measurement 22 cm, Diameter 18 cm, Height 18 cm.1

Dated to: collected in 1933

Find location: The museum lists the location as “Samer – Suonikylä. Petsamo
Lapps, Finland.”2 This reflects the terminology of 1933 when the hat was collected. This region of the larger Sápmi is no longer within the borders of Finland as it was ceded to Russia in the Second World War.3

Material: wool4

Stitch(es) used: According to Margrethe Hald, the hat is worked in Långaryd stitch5, UOOOO/UUUUOO F1. However, the surface texture does not match that stitch determination. Further research should follow the Ethical Guidelines for Research Involving the Sámi People in Finland.

Inventory number: ObjectId 19278 Item number K.782

Current location: Nationalmuseet, Danmark, Ethnographic Collection

Link to museum catalog or other data:

https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs And Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles. Publications of The National Museum of Denmark; Archaeological Historical Series XXI. Translated by Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: Fyens Stiftsbogtrykkeri, Copenhagen, 1980. ISBN 87-480-0312-3. Pg. 298.

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. https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
  2. https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
  3. My thanks to Niina-Hannele Nuutinen for assistance with placing this location on a map and an introduction to the relocations that occurred in the region https://www.samimuseum.fi/saamjiellem/english/kolttaalue.html, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skolt_S%C3%A1mi and https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suonikyl%C3%A4 Accessed 18 August 2024 ↩︎
  4. https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/19278 Accessed 13 August 2024 ↩︎
  5. Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs And Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles. Publications of The National Museum of Denmark; Archaeological Historical Series XXI. Translated by Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: Fyens Stiftsbogtrykkeri, Copenhagen, 1980. ISBN 87-480-0312-3. Pg. 298. ↩︎

NOW: Omani Sand Socks زرابيل TRC 2018.2807a-b

Peru and Egypt have both excellent preservation characteristics and extensive excavation histories, so I often return to these locations for nalbound artifacts. However, for this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week, I’d like to explore an item that reflects a different tradition. While we don’t know much about archeological examples, the Arabian Peninsula has evidence of a very strong traditional usage of nalbinding. زرابيل zarbool,1 or sand socks and camel muzzles2 seem to be the predominant items made with nalbinding there. This particular pair of Omani Sand Socks, I had the pleasure of seeing while they were on display in the Socks & Stockings exhibition at the Textile Research Centre in Leiden, Netherlands in 2019.

Omani Sand Socks as on display in the Socks & Stockings exhibition at the Textile Research Centre, Leiden in October 2019. Photo: Anne Marie Decker

Object: Sand socks زرابيل

Description: The socks are worked from the toe up in alternating stripes of white and black. The stripes are two rows deep and the color is carried from one row up to the next color change. The heel is a wedge heel. There is a slit in the ankle with ties at the top to close it. The bottom showing in this image shows the pads that are worked onto the sock starting from the mid-foot and sewn down on three sides. The socks are 12.6 inches long by 5.5 inches wide (32 cm long by 14 cm wide3).

Dated to: late 20th century CE4

Find location: Oman5

Material: goat hair6

Stitch(es) used: Mammen, F2 UOO/UUOO (Stitch determination based on examination by Anne Marie Decker on 28 October 2019)

Gauge: 8-9 stitches to the inch and 2-2.5 rows to the inch. 4 stitches per cm and 0.75-1 row per cm.7

Inventory number: TRC 2018.2807a-b

Current location: Textile Research Centre, Leiden

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565

Some sources in which more information can be found:

If you scroll down, there is one of the few images of sand socks being worn at http://turathalarab.blogfa.com/post/405

Another image of sand socks being worn.

Photographs (if permissions allow):

Heel and toe pads sewn on TRC 2018.2807a-b
Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 2019
Close up of the slit reversals
TRC 2018.2807a-b
Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 2019
The black yarn being carried across the white rows to the next black row
TRC 2018.2807a-b
Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 2019
Gauge is 2 – 2.5 rows to the inch depending on where it was measured.
TRC 2018.2807a-b
Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker 2019

Acknowledgements: My thanks to Diana Lankhof and Lies van de Wege for making it possible for me to visit the Socks & Stockings exhibition at TRC. My timing was soo very tight and they graciously arranged to open an hour early so that I could have time to examine the nalbound sand socks and see the displays.

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. Also transliterated Zarbul ↩︎
  2. The Arabic term for camel muzzles or mouth coverings is possibly transliterated as lisama or lasama according to this video brought to my attention by Susan Elizabeth Aiken: https://youtu.be/YcKxQ0sGpr4?si=G5uO28Y9AR1lD9RY Accessed 7 June 2024 ↩︎
  3. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  4. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  5. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  6. https://trc-leiden.nl/collection/?trc=&zoek=sock&cat=&subcat=&g=&s=24&f=0&id=32565 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  7. Gauge determination based on examination by Anne Marie Decker on 28 October 2019 ↩︎

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: HÃ¥ndplagg 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 ↩︎