Yesterday I featured a sample braid that explored various braid structures that used differing weights of fibers—8 tama with thicker threads than the other 8. I had a particular hank of threads in mind, that was very difficult to set up, so I actually made samples. But, of course, when it finally came time to make the ‘real’ braid, I couldn't locate the hank, so I used the pastel threads shown below instead. Unfortunately, their repeats were erratic, so I couldn't control the ikat (shifting color) effect very effectively.

Here are my notes for this braid:

• cuzza not finding blue and purple hank
• two weights of threads
• hand dyed #20? crochet cotton (no tag)
• anchor brand multicolor perl cotton #5 weight, color #1335 5g
• color on anchor (div coats&clark, made in germany) erratic
• so gave up trying to align colors. Just impossible
• started...1st or 2nd week of april 2012

This braid is made with two sets of threads, one much thicker than the other (say, #5 perle cotton versus 20# cordonnet). The thicker strands, if I'm recalling correctly, make up the square part of the braid; because there are two weights of cord, the ‘edges’ of the oval are ‘pointier’ (more acute in cross-section).

Compared to the usual braid structure, the tabby keiruko no himo that I like to do, this was a more frustrating project. Below is a note for coping with the uneveness.

Easter oval update: The way to lay out the marudai to keep the square and round braids separate is 2 tightly spaced pairs top and bottom for the square part; 1 tight pair east and west for round, and the other 4 distributed at ne, se, nw, sw. In this way, distance between two sets of threads can be maintained. (23feb13)

But when all was said and done, it was a pretty braid and I was happy with it—enough, in fact, to use the same structure for a stocking.

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

Sylvus Tarn