Nalbinding & Knitting: compare and contrast

Here are some excerpts from a poster presentation I did at an SCA event in August 2016.  It was a research-focused event hosted at U Penn, where people had the opportunity to share the results of their research.

These diagrams are analyzing the so-called Coptic stitch.  For more information on the Coptic stitch in nalbinding, see my other post on Egyptian socks: here.  So, the interesting thing about this particular nalbinding stitch is that it looks very similar to knitting.  Specifically twisted-stitch, or crossed-stitch, knitting.  This has led to some confusion among archaeologists and there are probably textile fragments in museum collections that have been mis-categorized.

The point of this analysis (which was illustrated with some samples on the poster) was to show the ways in which knitting and Coptic nalbinding can be distinguished from each other.  The structure of Coptic nalbinding, when worked flat or in a constant-size tube, is identical to that of twisted knitting.  However, they are worked in opposite directions.  Because of the differences in the way they are worked, the two structures can be differentiated by looking at the increases and decreases.  Some increase or decrease structures are unique to nalbinding, some are unique to knitting, and some can be created in both techniques.

The below terms in red (other than the 'F1 increase') are my own, since I could not find any categorization of the different types of increases and decreases which are possible with the Coptic stitch.  If anyone knows of one, do please let me know.

Distinguishing Nalbinding from Knitting: 
Increases and Decreases

Increases add a stitch to the row being worked, and decreases reduce the number of stitches, compared to the previous row.  Nalbinding increases are analagous to knitting decreases (and vice-versa).


Nalbinding:

F 1 increase – made by passing the yarn around the bridge between 2 stitches.  All of the increases in the extant socks that I have been able to analyze are of this type.

 Impossible to replicate with knitting.

Nalbinding:

Linked increase – 2 stitches are worked around the same stitch

Structure is the same as ‘knit-2-together’ or ‘purl-2-together’ knitting decreases.


Nalbinding:

Skip decrease – made by simply skipping one stitch of the prior row

Structure is the same as ‘lifted’, ‘make-one’, or ‘yarn-over’ knitting increases

Nalbinding:

Joined decrease – made by passing the stitch behind 2 adjacent stitches of the prior row.

Looks similar to a ‘knit front-and-back’ or ‘bar increase’ with proper tension, but structurally different.  COULD be replicated exactly with knitting, but this is not generally done.