Naalbinding.

I did indeed finish the socks that night after my last post. Here's a photo!

The yarn is wool. Brown is from Peru, which I purchased on sale at Kamille's in Gardner village. White is from Iceland, and I got it for Christmas.

I changed my technique a little bit. I did it exactly the same way I do Norse wire weaving (which has also been called wire naalbinding), except that I shaped it like a sock instead of a long thin tube. And I just did it in the air, not around a dowel. I'm sure most of you have no idea what I mean. But anyway, this tiny change made a huge difference. As you can see, the resulting textile looks exactly like knitting, and it's also quite stretchy. My first sock is rather holey because I could stretch it around my foot without increasing stitches, but soon I figured out that increasing stitches makes a denser textile, without making it a ton bigger (unless you add a LOT of stitches) which is good for wool socks.

I have a lot of the yarn left, so I think I'll make another, longer, pair. I also want to make some sandals or boots with this black hemp that I have, using the more holey stitch, and sew on a leather sole. Those would be some pretty sweet summer shoes, I think.