This is not nearly as difficult to do as it looks: it's sort of like an oimatsu with a very long float. The trickiest part was making certain the individual braids were all the same length. Not being particularly precision minded, I can guarantee you they aren't, but as the picture shows, they're pretty close.
I started this braid during a kumi demo for my younger child's kindergarten class, which dates it sometime during the 2000-2001 school year. The split part I did later, when it was obvious that the ombre patterns weren't going to work out. By simplifying the color scheme—that is, breaking it down to 4, instead of 16 strands, I got some nice harmony going on within the simple four strand braids.
This piece still needs to have tassels added, but I was remarkably surprised at how nicely the colors worked out.
‘Sugar'n’Spice’ brand 100% cotton yarn. The 16 strand portion of the braid is approximately 1/2” (12mm) in diameter. Twill weave (keiriko no himo) braid.
page uploaded 14Dec2001; updated 28mar05 (links added at bottom).
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
