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==The 'Coppergate sock'==
During excavation of the Coppergate area of York, a find came to light from the backyard of one of the C10 wattle buildings, which clearly indicated a Viking influence in the textiles. This was the wool sock, worked in nålebinding, a technique never before recorded in England. The sock is slipper-like in style, that is it would originally have covered the whole foot, probably stopping short of the ankle. It was constructed using an unsophisticated and interesting variant on method of nålebinding, using the stitch UU/OOO F2 in the Hansen notation. The sock is worked with S-spun, and Z-plied wool. There is evidence of some of the yarn used being dyed with madder.
===Construction of the 'Coppergate sock'===
The work starts at the toe, where a single loop of wool yarn is made and then a circular row of loops is worked into it. For the next row, the looping is continued, passing the needle through the centre of the first row; after two loops have been completed, the needle starts to be be brought back through the next to last loop of the current row. The work is continued in this manner, passing the needle through the row below and back through the last loop. The effect of this technique is to produce a heavy, almost double-thickness fabric, of great elasticity.
[[File:Naalb02.gif|thumb|center|Diagrammatic construction of 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. As the work was continued round after round, shaping was added by working extra loops into the row below, or by missing a lower loop out. At the heel, the line of work has been turned back on itself several times to form the heel shaping. At the ankle it circles round a few more times until the last row, which is worked in a smooth dark yarn, dyed with madder (dye tests on the rest of the sock were negative). Because this technique does not unravel, no special finishing border is needed, and it is therefore uncertain whether this last row was a decorative edge or whether the sock continued in to a stocking with a red coloured leg.
Reference: Walton, Penelope. 1990. "Textile production at Coppergate, York: Anglo-Saxon or Viking?" in Textiles in Northern Archaeology (NESAT Symposium 3) ed. Penelope Walton and John-Peter Wild. London
==Evidence of nålebinding socks in our period==
''Original article by Elaine Hutchinson 1992<br>Corrected in line with new datings Hazel Uzzell 2004. Reviewed by Jane Anders, 2020.'' ==Evidence of nålebinding in our period== ==British Isles==Coppergate Sock (see above)Fragment, Fishamble St, Dublin, Ireland ==Scandinavia== ==Mainland Europe==
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