Viking Age Fun – crafting one thousand years ago…

N?lbundna m?ssor

Viking Age is the time from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History. The vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. But we vikings apparently did more than steal and plunder, as it was mostly bearded men sailing out from the villages and the rest of the family stayed at home! Back in the Viking village there were a lot of activity going on, like weaving, crafting, cooking and decorating…

This weekend I visited a viking village at Stallarholmen with a lively market, games, boats, food (wild boar!), activities and to my surprise; a lot of viking time crafting!

I’m sharing some of the photos I took at the market in this post. Enjoy!

The first thing I saw was this wood trough (tr?tr?g) that made me think of Maria because she has made a similar one by hand!

Viking Age
Wood trough – quite beautiful, right?

Beads for sale

Viking market
Craft materials for sale: Beads, wooly caps, felt and linen fabrics and drinking horns for the beer!

These caps are made with an ancient technique called needle binding. It is used to produce hats, socks, mittens and other woolen goods using a single short needle and lengths of woolen yarn. Although later superseded by knitting, n?lbindning produces garments of a superior quality with stitches that do not run if snagged and a weave that is more dense and therefore easier to felt, providing maximum protection from cold or moisture. It is for this reason that the nalbinding technique was still used until very recently in some parts of Scandinavia. I guess knitting won because it is much quicker to do and you don’t have to cut the yarn into small pieces as you do when you “sew” (bind) with a needle! I’ve tried it once and I got a entangled ball of nothing from my first try! ;-)

Jewlery shop
This lady was in selling beautiful stuff in one of the many Jewelery Shops at the market. I got a silver owl in a pink ribbon that I just love! I ♥ my owl!

Viking Age Candy
Viking candy?

Leather Journals
The leather journals with handmade fiber papers inside was sold by a company called Svarta Katten. I thought all of them looked beautiful and well made. I looked through all of them but decided against buying one this time.

Vikings used yarn too
Dying yarn outside over open fire and then using it to craft clothes and warm items. Or maybe they used this yarn to weave on this very cool looking loom:

Viking Age Loom
Wouldn’t that be a nice place to sit and weave at?

Lotta the Viking
This is my viking friend Lotta standing by a newly made Viking Stone, cut by Kalle Runristare (the official runestonecarver man)!

N?lbundna vantar
More mittens in Viking Age style. I had a very nice day!

If you want to view even more of my photo click here to see them!

15 Responses

  1. Wow, such eye candy! I don’t think I could’ve resisted buying one of those gorgeous leather journals! Looks like you had a great time.

    *hugs*
    Sophie

  2. wish I could have been there, the leather journals look great and I’d love one of the hats to wear at winter bike rallies

  3. Very nice!
    And actually there was a viking market/camp here in Vestfold as well this weekend. Stepson was there and told us it was great – and that he wants to join the local viking group.

    I think I might have to give needlebinding a try someday. The end result is lovely…

  4. Hey hanna…check out my blog…I have tagged you….answer the questionaire !!!and pass it on to 2 more blogger friends of yours!

    Veda

  5. Oh WOW Hanna! U have taken me back to my time in denmark. I just love Scandinavia…for its people, culture, shops, creativity, style…everytime someone says they had been to or from Norway, sweden or denmark…my face lights up….One of the best places I have been to….I will really cherish it….thanks for taking us back to the viking age!

    Regards,
    Veda

  6. Hej Hanna!

    Vi har bes?kt samma marknad! Jag k?pte en del p?rlor till kommande projekt.

    Din blogg ?r en stor inspirationk?lla f?r mig.

    H?lsningar
    Anna

  7. Amazing photos Hanna. I would have been seriously out of pocket if I had been there…particularly the beads and the lovely hats.

  8. Thank you so much for posting this. I love multicultural crafts of all kinds. For me, this is so unique and I never would have gotten to see it otherwise. :o) I want to try that needle-binding technique! Also I love the shapes. So cute!

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