Most of the braids I've made in the last 5, even 10 years have been round braids. I like round braids. But even I decided it was time for a change, so since the simple over-and-under tabby weave is my fave for round braids, I decided to attempt this ribbon like flat braid, which is also based on the tabby weave.

Rolled up. This braid is about 10–12 mm wide, or perhaps 1/2”. It's quite long, over 2 yards, and probably over 2m. Started in 2005, completed in 2007.

Braid shown spread out a little.

My very favorite version of this string, the colorway called mexicana, is no longer available, and hasn't been for 20–30 years: it's a much more deeply saturated version than this stuff. But this was better than nothing, and to get a symmetrical design, I cut the yardage very long: enough to include two complete repeats. I staggered the colors so that the pattern went to all one color (the yellow sections) twice.

This was foolish. I assumed that I would pick the new pattern right up, instead of making a sample to learn the braiding sequence properly, first. (The braid I made second using this pattern would have been perfect for the purpose. Indeed, the reason the braid took two years is that I would make a mistake, and then the marudai would sit for months on end till I got around to working myself out of it again.

closeup of the many braiding errors.

The other problem with ombre yarns of this type is that it isn't always easy to tell which group a given tama belongs. For the current hank of yarn I've got waiting, I've decided to make little hooks with beads on them, kind of like stitch markers. So this time the marudai may sit for months before I even start the braid, until I get around to making and ironing out the kinks of this new tool.

file created 28nov07

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.