Nalbinding - The Start

Here you'll have the opportunity to learn one of the possible ways to start Nalbinding.
 
A simple stitch forms a chain of loops..

Picture 2

.., the start loop is put between thumb and forefinger, so that the short end points to the right and the longer one to the left.
The long end of the thread, which we will be calling "work thread", is threaded into a suitable needle ...

Picture 3

... and is put around the thumb from the left to the right,…

Picture 4

... and led behind the thumb over and across the start loop.

The loop is more or less tied to the thumb.

Picture 5

Now we have the following start positions:

one forward thumb loop,
One backward thumb loop,
the work thread on the left side
and the start thread on the right side.

Picture 6

We prick with the needle into the backward thumb loop from the front

This is the equivalent to the stitch U O/

(The first stitch U, because the first loop as the forward thumb stitch is folded over the thumb to the front. The work thread is put to the lower left side.)

Picture 7

... now prick the needle into the forward thumb loop from the back and lead under the work thread.

Picture 8

Loosen the thumb from the forward thumb loop and take this stitch with the backward thumb loop. I recommend to not tightening this loop again here because this would form stitches that are too tight.

Now all loops are on the needle and the thread can be pulled through all the loops at the same time.

Picture 9

While pulling needle and thread through, hold the loops between thumb and forefinger with a slight pressure.

Picture 10

Once the thread has been fully pulled through, a new thumb loop has formed.
 
I recommend now, or even better, a few loops later, to pull on the start thread tightly while holding the backward thumb stitch. The very first loop should be pulled shut. It is best to keep the start thread short to avoid tangling during the rest of the Nalbinding work.

(Loose threads tend to be pulled into the loops.)

Picture 11

We now see behind the thumb:
 
the previous thumb loop (big)
the previous backward thumb loop (small)
underneath is the start loop
 
(A tip for the advanced in anticipation of other stitch varieties: From now on we could work with two backward thumb loops.)

Picture 12

If the process in Picture 6 to ten is repeated for a while,…

Picture 13

…one ends up with the fabric shown on the left behind the thumb.
Looked at it from this angle the right side is the upper border of the Nalbinding project.

Picture 14

Here a start in Nalbinding is shown in the already described Thumb-catching Method - taken off the thumb. For safety the thumb loop can be pulled a little bit bigger.
If the start were put back on the thumb by pushing the thumb into the first stitch from the front and pulling the thumb stitch tight again, the first stitch would be the forward thumb stitch, the following stitches were to be the backward thumb stitches and the work thread would be put to the left and work could be continued.

 
This way the work can be taken off the thumb at any given part and taken up again later to continue work.
Once the loop chain has reached the correct length it is recommended to pull the chain longer again to stretch out the stitches. The look of the stitches will be more even afterwards. In our example, we will close 50 stitches to form a ring, which are going to be worked in spiral rings later on.