Click to enlarge
When they say men work from dawn till dusk and women's work is never done, it is very true. When all other works were done and the light was fading, women would still sit and spin. Many women even took their work with them to the netherworld; spindles and whorls are found in plenty in Finnish and Danish graves of the Viking period. (Hald, 134.)
Spinning is a process in which a fibre is drawn out and twisted into a long unbroken thread. If a stronger yarn is desired two or more threads are twisted together, this is called plying. (Hald 134.) Wool was prepared for spinning with a pair of wool-combs, or, from the 13th or 14th century, with brush-like tools called cards or carders (Walton Rogers 1719–1720). Spinning can be done with the most simple of tools, the most usual primitive tool is the spindle. The spindle is usually a straight stick with a thickening at one end, or with a weight known as a whorl. (Hald 134.) In the rare complete spindles found from Coppergate from 12th and 13th century both ends have notches or slots. These are to help anchor the yarn, but they are not essential. Many spindles have smooth ends, where the yarn would have been fastened by means of a double hitch. The spindle does not just twist the yarn but also acts as a bobbin to carry the spun thread. (Walton Rogers 1735.) Whorls are used to weight the spindle and keep up the momentum while spinning. They are wedged on the spindle, against the swollen part of the shaft. Whorls were made of stone, clay, bone, antler, lead alloy, bronze or even amber. Usually the material was chosen by it's weight, heavy whorls are useful for plying threads and light whorls allow short fibres and fine yarns to be spun. (Walton Rogers 1743–1745.)
When spinning with a spindle and whorls, the whorl is wedged on the shorter end of the spindle. The spun yarn is wrapped around the shank and then anchored by looping around the notch on whichever end is going to be uppermost when in use. As the before mentioned Coppergate spindles have a notch at either end, they could be used either way up, with the whorl mounted on the top or the bottom. Most manuscripts illustrations of spinning are late medieval and show the spindle suspended with the whorl at the bottom, the rotation having been started with the hand (drop-and-spin). A top-loaded spindle is more usual in cultures where the rotation of the spindle is begun by rolling it down the hip, or down the thigh and off the knee. For illustrations of these spinning styles, see Picture 3. The yarn from drop-and-spin is generally Z-spun (clockwise twist) and from hip-spinning S-spun (anti-clockwise). (Walton Rogers 1745.) The structure of the Z and S yarns can be seen in Picture 3. In a medieval mitten found from Lund, seen in Picture 4, the yarn was Z-plied (Kaukonen 56). It is a good idea to use Z-plied yarn or Z-spun yarn for needle-binding (nail binding, nålbindning). This keeps the yarn from ravelling while working.
Fulling is the deliberate shrinking and thickening of wool cloth. It mats the fabric and if taken to extremes gives it a rough, shaggy appearance. For the matted effect, the cloth is thoroughly wetted and then worked by hand or trampled underfoot, until the fabric has the correct degree of felting. This process was being applied to textiles in Scandinavia as early as the 10th century. (Walton Rogers 1773.) In most cases it is difficult to say whether the needle-bound mittens were originally fulled or not. In the Tuukkala mitten, found from a 14th century Finnish grave and shown in Picture 5, the surface was fulled before it was embroidered (Vahter 237).
The technique of working a fabric of interlocking loops with a needle and thread may be traced back as far as the Neolithic period (Walton, 343). The Åsle mitten from Västergötland, shown in Picture 6, is one of the earliest examples of needle-binding; it is dated to the first centuries CE (Hald 299). Other famous needle-binding finds are "the Coppergate Sock" which was found during excavations in the backyard of one of the 10th century wattle buildings of Coppergate in York, England (Walton 341). A striped sock made with a simpler stitch was found in an Iron age burial mound in Kekomäki, Finland. An embroidered mitten made of soft and warm wool from the middle ages, circa 14th century, was found from a man's grave in Tuukkala. (Vahter 68–69.)
Metallic needles have been found from Finland dating from the Iron age. A bronze needle dating from the Viking era was found in Eura. Bone needles are also very popular, one needle was found from Turku dating to the end of 16th century. (Kaukonen 52-54.) There are two types of needles, one where the eye is near the middle end and the other where the eye is a little distance from the end (Hald 279).
The stitch is identified by Margrethe Hald as type IIIa out of seven. An excellent example of this variation of looped needle-netting is the Mammen pennants. (Hald 293.) The following instructions are simplified, to give a rough picture of the method. One loop on the thumb and two loops under thumb. Put the needle through first and second loop under the thumb. Twist the needle through the loop on the thumb and under the yarn. Tighten the new loop on the thumb and slip the old loop off the thumb. The method is illustrated in Diagrams 1 and 2 below.
Needle-binding does not use a continuous length of yarn as do knitting and crochet. However these short lengths (2-4 m) are not connected together with knots: instead the ends are spliced together. (Decker 9.) In the Coppergate sock new lengths of yarn must have been joined in at intervals but, as there are no loose ends visible, they must either have been joined by splicing or stitched into the fabric (Walton 342).
The mittens were started at the finger, not the wrist edge. After making enough stitches to the starting loop, a new row is started. The stitches are added to make the mitten fit a hand. The product grows row by row in a spiral or like a snailshell. (Hald 285.) For the thumb is left a slit in the appropriate place by not picking from the previous row, then the mitten is finished to the wrist and expanded a bit for the sleeve to fit under the mitten. Then the thumb is finished by picking loops from the slit and worked up towards the tip. (Decker 6–7.) See Picture 4 above for the shape of a mitten.
The wool I used is from an ordinary Finnish sheep, with modern length of wool. I prepared the wool with carders and spun it with a spindle with a whorl at the bottom. I used drop-and-spin technique, so the yarn is a single Z-spun, the yarn is not plied. After spinning I started needle-binding with a bone needle. I continued the yarn by splicing. When the mitten was done I fulled it. In the process of fulling the mitten shrunk about 15% and became softer.
Decker, Anne Marie. The Åsle Mitten Stitch. Washington State: Eccentric Enterprises, 2000.
Fitzhugh, William & Elizabeth Ward (eds.). Vikings, the North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Institute, 2000.
Gustafsson, Kerstin. Gamla textila tekniker i ull. Stockholm: LTs förlag, 1988.
Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish textiles from bogs and burials Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark, 1980.
Kaukonen, Toini-Inkeri. "Kinnasompelun levinneisyys ja työtavat Suomessa" in Suomen Museo LXVII. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistys, 1960.
Vahter, Tyyni. "Tuukkalan neulakinnas" in Suomen museo XL. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistys, 1934.
Walton Rogers, Penelope. Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate. York: Council for British Archaeology, 1997.
Walton, Penelope. Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. York: Council of British Archaeology, 1989.