In my very earliest efforts, I braided 3 strands together. This is a story of three braids I tried to make into one.

I consider the following braid, which I started making in Japan in the summer of 2014, to be quite handsome:

I know I made (or at least started) the piece in Japan because I bought the fiber there–this product isn't even available here. And...a memory came floating back up, of braiding on the train, fascinating Japanese to see a foreigner practice their ancient craft on a newfangled disk. —I recently stumbled across some initiative in which WoC were going to knit in public spaces, as a way of starting dialogues, because it's such a non-threatening topic.^[1] Braiding certainly helped passed the tedium on trains; but it's also a way of subtly connecting with people, who may do no more than watch, but nevertheless come to understand the artisan as a harmless person who in their small way is doing something to add a tiny bit of beauty to the world.

And I could certainly leave it at that.

But one of the things that interests me is how malleable memory can be, even in the fact of evidence before one's very eyes. I decided I would like to document when I made my various braids over the past couple of years, ideally even the order in which I made them; this came out of the beaded embroidery series, which showed an interesting (to me at any rate) evolution in the work.

However, most people, myself included, tend to strip these narrative to simple, easily told story lines. So, there was the braid just shown. There's this one:

And here's the braid in progress:

Obviously this yardage could not have been used to make that braid because

1. the braid was completed before the disk was warped
2. the process photo shows perle, not the super-soft Japanese cotton.

Nevertheless my brain really, really really wanted to the two to be one and the same, because it would have so tidy. Failing that, could this be the hank for first braid shown?

Answer: Obviously not, because

1. the mint/blue/beige braid is made fairly stiffly twisted cotton—it was harder even than perle cotton
2. and duh, you can see the finished braid up in the corner, there! This is probably its completion date; at the very least, the implication is that it's inspiration for this hank.

As the next two pix show, there was too much thread, and it didn't fit properly on the bobbins. Also, the experimental braid structure was a pest.

But wait, you say—obviously, some of the bobbins have beige/mint/blue. Some do—I used the last of the ball in this hank. Nevertheless, this hank is still sitting in a box, waiting to be braided. Moreover, half of the first braid is most assuredly not apple green.

See, the thing is, memory, if I'm understanding the latest research, is basically a few high points will a lot of ‘inbetweening’ on the fly that one's braid brain fills in on the fly—logically associated stuff, say. Thus, since I could only find one blue-green braid, (because I'm pretty sure I gave the 2013 one away to my friend Page, and the other one hasn't been braided yet) that must mean there's only one. Nope, there's at least three attempts, and two separate braids.

And if you've ever had a raging fight with someone was certain-sure of their memory, as you were of yours—well, here's how that happens.—This sort of thing is part of the reason I don't trust my memory, at least, not without some check-sums/additional support.^[3]

Really, I must keep better notes.

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

Sylvus Tarn