Hindsight

This isn’t going to be a very long post because I’m expiring with a very nasty migraine today which my usual medication refuses to affect much. But since it’s been awhile and somebody might be wondering how yesterday’s Kumihimo Class #2 went, I thought I’d suck it up. Just for you. Besides what else do I have to do besides lie around and read and knit while Thom keeps serving me tea and the occasional ibuprophen? (He’s adorable.)

The weather was threatening to include some rain but it kindly held off so I could set up the outdoor classroom, otherwise known as the lower deck. Everyone showed up this time so I had 8 and luckily there were exactly enough equipment kits for all. With one small exception: I found out at the last minute that I was short 8 bobbins in each of 3 of them but luckily had the bolts and nuts which only had to be assembled. The threads of the bolt have to be wrapped with a strip of cling wrap to protect the threads, the nut screwed on and a leader string attached. I got most of them done before everyone showed up and the rest finished later while they were busy setting up but I needn’t have bothered since we never got past 8-strand braids anyhow. Unfortunately I didn’t sell any of the kits this time either. Perhaps they were reluctant because I still need 6 sets for yet another proposed class, not scheduled as to date yet. However I would eventually like to sell them all so I’ll have an excuse not to do this again more space in my attic. I can always put an ad in the guild newsletter next autumn and hope there’s still some interest.

Anyhow, I think a good time was had by all! We got quite a lot done. Everyone was making nice braids and, apart from a little frustration at one of the more difficult ones, I’d say they all learned at least the basics including preparing the warp, setting it up on the marudai, attaching and winding on the bobbins, how to read the diagrams and how to hold the threads and move them around the “mirror”. After that it’s just practice, practice, practice. One does need a marudai to practice on though. Just sayin’.

As we were winding down around 3:30pm we felt a small drip or two of the wet stuff. It never amounted to more but it encouraged everyone to pack up more quickly. I had lots of help getting all the books and yarns and paraphernalia back into the house. My dining room looked like this after the storm of kindly assistance:

Well, I didn’t expect anyone to put it all away! That’s my job. Since Thom was off at his mom’s we also had to put the big folding table away in the shed by ourselves. It’s very heavy (thick particle board with metal legs) but we managed. Can’t leave it out because it’s definitely NOT outdoor grade particle board and I didn’t want it to dissolve into a pile of sawdust. And it did end up raining but not until sometime early this morning. It’s pretty nice out now. Even if I don’t care because it’s too bright for my poor eyes! At least it saved us some garden watering.

Now for the true confessions. I felt I was more relaxed the second time, at least once I knew the weather was going to hold off. But I made two mistakes: one was not taking any medication for the headache that was already starting when I woke up yesterday morning (obviously I was in denial) and the second was totally forgetting to put in my hearing aids. Doh. I seemed to manage OK because didn’t even realise I’d forgotten them until things were pretty much over. I was probably talking louder than normal! But I definitely should have taken an Advil or 2 before class started because if I had gotten it early perhaps it might not be so much worse today. Grrr…

Hindsight is just so 20/20.

In knitting news my Rainbow Dark sweater is coming along nicely. I’m cruising down toward the point where I need to divide for the sleeves. More later!

Kumihimo

I just thought I would write a little more information about kumihimo and my longstanding interest in this particular craft – just in case any of my Dear Readers are unfamiliar with the details. Braiding in general is the interlacement of threads or groups of threads using one set of elements, as opposed to weaving which uses 2 sets (warp and weft). The simplest braid (aka plait) is the 3-strand one we all learn to make in our hair. Braiding goes back to prehistoric times and creates strong narrow ropes or ties for a multitude of uses. Kumihimo (which means “interlaced threads”) was originally used in Japan to lace together samurai armour and to wrap the handles and scabbards of swords. The material of choice has always been silk. Later the fashion was for a braid to decorate the obi that wrapped around kimono. Currently braids are used in decorative items such as jewelry, key fobs, hair ties, bookmarks etc. Cheaper rayon threads have become more commonly used than silk.

Of course these braids are not done just in one’s hands like their South American counterparts! There are a number of tools and stands (sometimes referred to incorrectly as “looms”). A popular and inexpensive way to work kumi braids is on a cardboard or foam circle or square with notches around the perimeter. This works fine for simple braids and is very portable but IMHO it’s not nearly as easy or as much fun as working on a marudai (round stand). I always make way more mistakes on the cards and my tension is far from even even with a small counterweight.

My marudai was made by my resident woodturner, T-Man, (of course!) and although not particularly traditional in shape it works really nicely. The woods are Oregon myrtle for the mirror and base with mahogany legs plus a number of colourful exotic wood dots on the base. My 70g tama (lead-weighted bobbins) were made by Peter Berlin in padauk wood. Because you will not get me to kneel on the floor in the traditional position, my marudai needs to be set on a small stool to reach the correct height for me to sit in a low chair to braid.

The bag hanging in the middle holds the counterweight (lead fishing weights) at approximately half the combined weight of the tama. You braid by lifting the correct threads (not the tama!) and swinging them around the mirror (top of the marudai) into their new place. The moves are two-handed and most of them are symmetrical or oppositional making it like a dance. That’s where the fun comes in!

Besides the marudai there are other stands for different types of braiding:

• Kakudai (square stand) which has a peg instead of a hole in the middle and the braid proceeds upwards hung by a “gibbet” and a counterweight system. It works well for braids with twisted elements.
• Takadai (high stand) looks a lot more like a loom right down to the beater sword (hera). It’s used for wide flat oblique braids.
• Ayatakedai (wooden stand) is similar to the takadai but has “feathers” (hane) in front that support the bobbins. The braids made on this stand are warp-twined.
• There’s also a combination takadai/ayatakedai stand, dubbed an ayatakadai by Aiko Sakai, which is convertible.

As you might imagine, the possibilities are pretty endless! (I’ve coveted a takadai for years. I have the plans for building one. Sadly I don’t actually have a takadai. Yet.) The only North American supplier for all things kumihimo is BraidersHand in Washington State. Janis Saunders is the proprietor and her husband builds the equipment to specs that have been vetted by Roderick Owen and Makiko Tada, both world-renowned braiders and authors of a number of books on the subject. They are lovely people to deal with.

So where did I get interested in this particular textile art form? Somewhere back in the early 1990’s a friend had taken a seminar with Rod Owen and showed me how to do a simple braid on a cardboard square. I was enchanted! Later I travelled to Victoria, BC several times to take workshops with Shirley Berlin, who had studied with Rod who had studied with Makiko, whose mom was the aforementioned Aiko Sakai. (There’s a continuous braid here! Get it?) I also managed to take several seminars with Makiko at various weavers’ conferences. Other than that, the rest I learned from books and just by trying it. I did join the Complex Weavers’ Kumihimo on the Marudai group for a number of years where we exchanged lots of samples with braiding instructions included. Some of the challenges were very exciting, using untraditional materials and experimenting with interlacements. Unfortunately now I mostly just have a tangle of braid samples to show for my kumihimo curiosity rather than any spectacular finished pieces. But dear Shirley would have me tell you that there are indeed many uses for braids! Limited only by your imagination.

If anyone is interested in learning more about kumihimo, I have some files of teaching materials from when I did several workshops for my weavers’ guild. Just contact me privately with your email. Even though I’m not teaching now, I’m always happy to addict another happy fibreholic! Plus there are several ways to create a “quick-and-dirty” marudai. One good one is to drill a hole in the top of a stool. Bobbins can be quickly made with large nuts and bolts. More info in my handouts.

So. On another subject entirely, I haven’t yet showed this FO:

Ruby Sockhead Hat

Begun: December 29, 2012
Completed: January 17, 2013

Yarn: Newton’s Yarn Country Happy Feet sock yarn, colourway reds/blues, 100% superwash merino, used .2 (360 yds) of the original .71 lb. (1278 yds) skein. Only a few yards left.

Pattern: Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure, free pattern on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sockhead-hat

Comments: Very easy pattern to knit so it’s a perfect TV project. The slouchy shape is a different one for me but it’s great for bad hair days like when I need my hair cut badly! This uses up the last of this monster skein of sock yarn. I now have a whole matching wardrobe of accessories – hat, fingerless mitts, and knee socks.

In health news, I’m still coughing but feeling somewhat more human again. We got in a huge restocking of groceries finally, changed all the linens and did laundry and vacuuming. I even made a big pot of soup. It’s amazing how much better one feels when the house isn’t quite such a pigsty! The Evil Bugs have merely stolen a whole month out of my life. Bleh.

I think I need to go make some cookies. Gluten-free oatmeal raisin. Cookies and a cup of tea always make you feel better.

Did She Make It In Time?

Yes, I finished the bookmark braid on time but it was a near squeak! I only had 2 days and it took 3 tries to get it right. First was a practise braid in some random weaving yarn of unknown fibre content (probably rayon). The colour was good but the results looked like cat yak and I kept breaking the east-west threads. Next I tried a new warp in shiny rayon machine embroidery thread in two shades of red (a brighter warm red and a duller purplish red): 10 doubled ends (one strand of each thread) 1 yd long per each north-south tama and 4 doubled ends 2 yds long for the east-west tama. That looked great, until I cut off the braid and found a big boo-boo on the back side. Bleh. Then I had an agonising few minutes while I tried to decide if there was enough left on the tama (weighted bobbins) to do a second braid. I didn’t want to start winding more thread and re-attaching them all to 24 tama. This was late Sunday afternoon and I was running out of time and energy. So I went with the thread I had left and there was just enough with maybe a bare few inches left over. Whew!

The braid was a new one for me from the “pink book” (aka Kumihimo: the Essence of Japanese Braiding by Aiko Sakai and Makiko Tada).

Kyoraku Gumi is a 24 tama flat braid where the 20 north/south ends work in five 4-strand yotsu-gumi braids and then are crossed by 2 of the finer 4 east/west ends. Each group of 4 works only with itself so any colour possibilities would be limited to vertical stripes. I went with one blended colour over all. Yeah, I know this makes no sense if you aren’t a kumist! Sorry, it clarifies things for me to write them down.

Here’s the marudai (braiding stool) set up for braiding:

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You can see how crowded the mirror is with so many tama on there! The braid itself wasn’t difficult. Really. Here’s the crappy practise piece and the first proper braid with glitch front and centre, though you might not be able to see it:

The pieces are lying on the first page of the braiding diagrams that I scanned so I could mark it up with pencil lines. That made it easier to see what I was doing for the first few moves. After that I didn’t need to look at all!

And here’s both sides of the final braid. To give you scale, it’s about 1/2” wide and 8” long between the tassels:

I secured the ends with silver thread and trimmed the tassels with a really great technique I remembered. You wrap the tassel tightly with stiff paper and then trim with the ends sharp scissors right at the edge of the paper. The paper holds the slippery threads from moving and gives a straight line to cut against. Worked a treat.

I’m sorry that I didn’t get a photo of the braid with the guest book but here’s the pic that was sent to me so I could see what I was actually making the braid for. The book was made with a Coptic binding by another Guild member. You can just see the stitches at the edge of the cover. I think my red kumihimo bookmark looked very nice with the muted cover paper.

It was such a sad but very loving day yesterday at my dear friend’s Celebration of Life. Over 200 family and friends (including a former city mayor) turned up proving that such an unassuming sweet person touched so many lives in a very positive way. We filled the main floor of Aberthau, the lovely old manse that is now part of a community centre and the place where my weavers’ and spinners’ guild hold our meetings. There were little arrangements of photos, flowers and memorabilia and a number of heartfelt speeches. Her poor husband looked lost and bereft. All the hugs in the world won’t help to fill the gap in all of our lives.

Since our Spectrum Study Group served as organisers of the CoL, I took the position of door greeter and hander-out of the program. T-Man schlepped a few chairs and we both spent time chatting with old friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years. After the speeches there were refreshments and an ongoing tea ceremony. I got to sit and have some matcha in a lovely tea bowl with the image of the rabbit and the moon which was one of my friend’s favourites. I guess Spectrum is going to have to decide whether or not to invite a new member. A replacement is not possible! However I think I’m going to have to assume her position of Official Lunchtime Reminder at our monthly get-togethers or we’ll all starve before we remember to eat.

Shower Report

I finally found the secret to getting stinky fish fertilizer smell off my hands! The secret is vinegar. I still smelled badly after washing my hands numerous times and even after washing the dishes. I rinsed my hands in a splash of vinegar (white wine vinegar, if you must know!) and it finally took the stink away. Pretty much. Ah, the sweet smell of success.

I went to the Niece-To-Be’s wedding shower on Sunday afternoon. My sweet sister-in-law drove Nana, the Aunties and me and it was quite the hilarious trip, both there and back! The shower was at the bride’s mom’s house in Langley (about an hour’s drive) but with having to pick everyone up and making a few...er, detours, it took much longer. I sat in the back between Nana and Auntie92 and threatened to poke them with my knitting needles if they didn’t behave. Add the somewhat wild driving of my French-Canadian sis-in-law to the old ladies acting like silly little children and it’s amazing we all made it home intact! Good thing I had all that old-lady experience when I used to hang out at my late mommy’s residential care facility. And these ones are only a little dotty! I’m still chuckling.

The shower was fun, though it took awhile for some of the ladies we didn’t know to warm up and speak to us strangers. It might have helped if there was some more formal introductions made because I still don’t know most of their names and relationships. But by the end everyone was chatting away like old friends anyway. It was a traditional kind of bridal shower except that where in my day they would have created a silly hat out of the bows and ribbons, the modern version was a bikini top that the bride ended up having to wear with a grass skirt and lei. Très unbecoming. She was a good sport though and professed to actually being surprised by the party. Luckily there were only a couple of Stupid Party Games and I managed to avoid most of it without being too rude. I absolutely detest and abhor party games, to the point where I usually flat out refuse to play. I think it’s something left over from my childhood but I don’t really have any recollection of major trauma in that regard. Call it a personality quirk. I just don’t play most games. (There are a very few exceptions.)

The presents were pretty darned elaborate, some of which I would consider wedding gifts rather than shower gifts. They really ended up with a very nice haul but everything was zipped out of sight into another room rather quickly so I can’t remember most of it. I coveted the blender since the one I got for my wedding (from my brother-in-law who was then only 15) is a bit the worse for wear after 37 years, but I managed to keep my hands off. However she did appreciate my handmade gift and now I can finally show it off:

Neapolitan Wash Set


Begun: April 29, 2008
Completed: May 7, 2008

Yarn: Sublime Yarns Organic Cotton DK, 100% organic cotton, 120 yds = 50 g, colour 94 Scumble (pink) .5 ball, colour 97 Nutmeg (light brown) 1 ball, colour 98 Rice (creamy white) 1 ball. Care – machine washable, dry flat to shape.
Needles: Denise circular size US5 (3.75mm) for washcloths and 2 Crystal Palace bamboo dpns size 4mm for soap socks. (I didn’t have bamboo dpns in 3.75mm and I was too lazy to go buy them.)

Patterns: Washcloths – Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth (Basic Dishrag). Soap Socks – Spin2Knit Soap Sock by Sheri Figueroa (modified, see below). Drawstring – 16-strand kumihimo braid Keiruko No Himo.

Comments: The tri-coloured one used up all the rest of the yarn. There’s nothing left more than a yard long! The corner tassels happened because there were too many ends to successfully work into the knitting. A good lesson in frugality! The soap socks are a little long but the handmade soap (from Cascadia Soaps) are small bars. I used the kumihimo braid for the ties.


Braid: Keiruko No Himo (aka Carey 16T or Owen 50 or Martin 7)
Bobbins: 16 – 70g, counterweight 20 oz.
Yarn: Sublime Organic Cotton DK, colour 94 Scumble, one strand per bobbin.

Comments: This is a simple and rhythmic braid to work. It’s actually a 2/2 weave, except of course it’s on the diagonal, and is hollow so it lends itself to adding a core if you want. It’s a very strong and flexible structure. I kept adding more to the counterweight to soften it up a bit so it would knot easily. I started with 19 oz. and ended up with 22 oz. which seems ideal. The yarn untwisted between the counterweight and the bobbin so the individual 2-ply strands lay mostly flat on the mirror. If I wanted to keep the twist in, I would have had to wrap the marudai legs in a towel so the bobbins had something to rest on. The friction would prevent them from untwisting. But it looks just fine flattened in the braid.

I did manage to make a few mistakes in it but was able to cut around them. Does resemble one of our old boat ropes though! All it needs is a core in the centre and to be made from Dacron. Heh. It didn’t work for the Unmentionables but was just fine for the Soap Socks. I had 6 or 8” left over.


Modified Soap Sock Pattern:
CO 28 (7 each needle), k3 rounds.
Next round: (k2tog, yo) around.
K garter st in the round (k 1 row, p 1 row) 4 inches. (3 would have been better.)
Dec like sock toe (still in garter though plain might be nice) to 8 sts total (3 each needle).
Graft last sts as for sock toe.

I do hope they can get some use out of these rather than just use them for decoration or hide them in a drawer! I make things to be used and even worn out, though that usually takes awhile. I’m still using placemats I wove in 1985.

Well, speaking of showers, we’re having some today. It’s good to water my garden a little more thoroughly than I have been and it saves me getting out the hose. We got a lot done on the garden this weekend, especially T-Man who worked very hard. I was busy trying to get the Big Secret Project going so wasn’t as much help as I could have been. There’s only a wee bit of the front garden left to finish and some weeding in the veggie paths but otherwise, it’s looking really good. Lots of work but lots of fun too. It helps that I’m feeling well and am able to get out there and dig in. Oops, hope I haven’t jinxed things now.

A Quickly-Stitched Page

I saved this to blog about after it went to the recipient. Just in case she reads my blog. I didn’t want to accidentally spoil the surprise.

Begun & Completed: January 11, 2008

Size: 8” wide x 8.75” tall – to fit on 9” x 9” book page

Materials: Main – piece of cotton fabric (painted with Setacolor and metallic fabric paints, scrunched), iron-on heavy-duty stabilizer. Accents – images printed on HP Iron-On T-Shirt Transfer paper and applied on cotton fabric, various scraps of fabric-painted and stamped raw silk fabric, all backed with Lite Steam-a-Seam 2. Pen – Pitt drawing pen in sepia. Thread – Sulky 12 wt. variegated cotton, size 100 needle, regular cotton sewing thread in bobbin.

Comments: I originally planned on making this 8 x 8 but apparently I can’t measure properly. I experimented with the transfer images first (I’m sure you’ll recognise the images!) and they worked rather well although the results are somewhat stiff. Sure wouldn’t want a t-shirt with this unless it softens with washing! I ironed the stabilizer (like heavy non-woven interfacing) onto the main fabric piece. All the scrap fabrics and the transfers had the Lite Steam-a-Seam2 stuck on. This stuff is different than Wonder-Under or the like. It’s sticky on both sides and you don’t iron it at all until it’s in place where it will be permanent. You just peel off the one paper layer and hand-press it on then cut out shapes, peel off the other paper and hand-press them in place until you’re ready to iron. I think it’s rather sticky to sew through so when this is gone, I won’t be getting more. Then I wrote the words on with the Pitt pen. Even though it’s not recommended for cloth I’ve tested and it lasts pretty well even if it gets wet. I’m obviously not very good with the free-motion embroidery yet. Kinda sloppy but not too awful. I had trouble getting the exact right tensions on top thread and bobbin. Tried and rejected brighter rayon thread and instead used the heavy cotton. I ended with a close zigzag around all the edges.

I’m pretty satisfied with this piece considering I didn’t give myself very long to do it! Only one day. I used several materials that were new to me and got some more practice in on the FME. This page was inserted into the gift book that was presented to Chisako at her going-away party at the Silk Weaving Studio where she worked and sold her lovely naturally-dyed and handwoven scarves.

The wording says:

January 2008

Dear Chisako,

May your heart always be light.

May your threads never tangle.

May your dyes always be brilliant.

May your shuttle always fly.

May your colours sing.

Best wishes from Damselfly

Hugs,

Your friend Louisa

She received the completed book with pages made by many of her friends in different styles and techniques: paper, cloth, weaving, and even a tiny knitted sock. It’s quite a treasure! The small shop was filled to capacity, proving that she will definitely be missed by the local textile arts community. I hope that their move to Japan will be all that they wish and they will find that special place that fills their hearts and becomes home.

Meanwhile and continuing on the Japanese theme I have two more books to review, this time on kumihimo. Both of these are not available through regular sources but I got them from Braidershand and they are both focused on the Hamanaka disk and plate, inexpensive and portable tools to braid on. First we have the world authority on kumihimo, Makiko Tada, who has worked with the manufacturer to develop the foam Hamanaka disks. The latest in her series of Comprehensive Treatise of Braids published by Texte in Japan, is “VI: Kumihimo Disk and Plate.”

Makiko shows how to make round, flat, zigzag, curled and braids-within-braids. She also shares her secrets of how to make jewelry with the shaped braids. The text is in English and Japanese but there are many diagrams that should make it easy to follow once you familiarize yourself with how to decipher the diagramming system. Braidershand also has several smaller booklets available for the disk and plate but they are in Japanese with a small supplement in English from Janis Saunders, owner of Braidershand. Some of the braids are the same and some are different and one might clarify the other, so it’s not a problem to have them all. Which brings me to the next book, or rather booklet:

This one is by my friend Carol Goodwin from Seattle, published by Braidershand, and is titled “Braiding on a Kumihimo Disk – Volume 3: Beaded Braids.” Note there are no Volumes 1 & 2, yet! At 21 pages it’s a slim volume but Carol has developed some really interesting ways to incorporate beads in braids. If you already have Jacqui Carey’s “Beads & Braids”, Carol’s techniques are quite different. And fairly easy to accomplish if somewhat slow compared to braiding without beads. You can also work these braids on the marudai as well as the disk, which I prefer if I don’t have to consider portability.

The Hamanaka disk and plate are made from high-density foam with slots to accept your threads. The foam holds them quite well, much better than the cardboard ones I used to teach braiding on! And they hold up well under regular use. The reason there are two shapes is that some braids are easier to do on one shape over the other. The flat zigzag for instance is much easier to accomplish on the square and Kongo (round spiral) is easier on the round shape. Not that you couldn’t fake it if necessary but they are pretty inexpensive so I would get both, or indeed several so you could have more braids going at once. Besides, chances are you’ll be giving them away when others see how much fun it is!

Fall Daze

The weekend went by in a blur — as did yesterday! As you might have guessed I had a wonderful time (NOT!) at the dentist on Friday. Nothing like having your mouth stuck open for about 2 1/2 hours straight. Although my dentist and his assistant were as gentle as possible, I found myself tensing up and occasionally fighting to breathe for a second or two. I had the fillings replaced in 3 adjacent teeth and an onlay applied to the worst one. We are struggling to preserve my old crooked teeth for as long as possible and it can be quite a job. Luckily T’s extended dental is paying for some of it ’cause it ain’t cheap! My mouth is still a bit sore where the freezing went in and the teeth are somewhat sensitive, but all-in-all it wasn’t that painful. And now I have all good dental work with no mercury-amalgam left in my mouth.

We had our children, their spouses and our granddaughter plus my MIL over for dinner on Saturday. It was a lovely family gathering, kind of a pre-Thanksgiving (in anticipation of the real thing next weekend with even more family). Even though everybody lives fairly close, there are gaps when we’re all too busy to communicate so it’s nice to get caught up on their lives. Two-year-old granddaughter is finally putting some words to things. She definitely has her own timetable! Her dad was yakking up a storm much younger than she is, but she’ll get there eventually. Then you likely won’t be able to shut her up! She’s a cutie though and fun for this happy granny to play with. It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts when her baby brother is born around the end of the year.

On Sunday I helped jury potential participants in a craft show coming up in December. It was very interesting to clash tastes with the 3 other jurors! One is a silver/goldsmith and is quite strongly opinionated which made for some lively discussions. We had totally opposing views on the jewelry which was fun but ultimately she “won” her choices. No surprise there! I was actually surprised at the lack of high quality design or innovation in a lot of the submissions and although fabric was well-represented, there was very little surface design or knitting/crochet. It seems that my theory that when you do something for sale, compromises must be made to turn any kind of profit. Whether that compromise is in materials, complexity, or craftsmanship, you just can’t spend as much time or effort when you’re making a large quantity for sale. Heck, what would I have to sell my hand-knitted socks for to make any kind of profit? The materials cost between $10 and $16 and it takes me (slow knitter that I am) upwards of 20 hours to knit a pair. Even at minimum wage, who’s going to pay me say $175 for socks? Not to mention the fact that it would kill my hands if I had to make more than one or two pairs a month. So see, everybody who gets my socks for birthday presents, how much I love you?!! Ultimately though I think this year’s sale is going to be very successful and showcase a good mix of different types of crafts. Whenever I’ve gone, it’s always been very busy and exciting.


Yesterday I buckled down and got my kumihimo braid done for the swap that was due on ahem…last Saturday. I completely forgot all about it until I got home from our holiday so I’m a leetle behinders. Anyway, it’s almost ready to go in the mail. I just have to finish binding the braid ends and attaching them to the cardstock printout of the details. I was so happy that the theme was Thick and Thin this time because a) that’s one of my favourite types of braid to play with and b) it works up relatively fast. I wanted to keep it simple so chose Edo Yatsu, the hollow braid (actually a tubular plain weave), and did two elements with 3 strands of fat cotton chenille and the other 6 elements from one strand each of a rayon 2 ply weaving yarn and a copper metallic thread for a bit of sparkle in contrast to the fuzzy chenille. It made a zigzag braid that isn’t hollow but that’s heavy enough to be a handle for a small bag. Sorry the scan is a bit off on the colours, which are actually a teal green chenille and orange/copper. My old scanner is starting to pack it in but I’m loathe to replace it since it’s legal size and actually still works not too badly on flat items. I probably should have taken a photo of such a 3-D braid rather than try to scan it however. The diagram is standard for kumihimo on the marudai, the “round stand”. The setup diagram indicates the colour order when you begin. It takes several repeats of the 4 steps to get back to the original positions. This is a very comfortable braid to work and has a nice rhythm almost like knitting or crochet when you get familiar with it. OK, I need to finish getting this swap all ready to mail.