With a small wooden or bone needle with an eye large enough for yarn, your fingers, and some length of yarn you can create mittens, hats, scarves, socks, sweaters, etc.  The process creates loops around previous loops which are essentially knots.  

 

Nalbinding is more complicated than other historic fiber arts such as trollen (kumihimo) wheel, lucet, or rigid heddle band weaving. Though the tool is much simpler the craft requires close attention to small loops wrapped around the thumb.  Unlike knitted or woven crafts, nalbinding, once started, cannot be unraveled to go back to where an mistake was made.  Don’t be discouraged if you find that you need to start a project over as a new nalbinder. 

 

Pictured here - Historic nalbinding mitten pattern by Ulrika Andersson

 

One thing that also makes nalbinding different from knitting is that you have to work with rather short lengths of yarn.  In knitting you can just keep knitting with the yarn still attached to the skein.  With nalbinding knots are being formed with all the yarn that is connected to the needle having to pass through the existing loops with every new loop.  

 

So, as you get down to the end of your length of yarn you have to reattach it to the next length of yarn.  Felt method - For 100% wool yarns you can simply take two tufted ends and lay them over each other and place both palms together and rub back and forth creating friction and warmth.  You may need to moisten the wool slightly lick your fingers or palms.  Wool naturally has microscopic hooks that make it felt. It’s a quick and simple join method though not the strongest.

Picture taken from Nimble Needles

Remember I said you don't need a pattern? Well, there are patterns out there for nalbinding garments.  Unlike the myriad of knit or crochet stitches that can overwhelm a new knitter, nalbinding mostly uses a simple notation system - the over and under. There are several methods of pattern notation originating from various fiber artists from Finland, Denmark, Sweden.  The two options (over or under) are written down in the order they are used, a slash mark “/” is used to indicate when the needle changes direction heading backward.  An example of notation is Egon Hansen “Hansen's Notation UOU/OUOO (Dalby Stitch)”.   Pic via Nuelakintaat.

The great thing about videos is that you can stop and start them as many times as you please.  With regards to learning nalbinding I found it imperative to do so often.

The starting of this method is a bit more complicated than the top down.  Several loops of yarn are wrapped around your fingers and then the needle goes through them as a bunch to create the beginning set of loops that will start a chain of loops.  Once the chain is long enough you will join the chain into a round (large enough to leave room to move for your hand.  Pic from Neulakintaat.