ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTION SERIES : No

L-M BRIC News No. 5 2002-04-10 © Revised 2002

L-M Braiding Research & Information Center / Masako Kinoshita

5 Winthrop Place, Ithaca, NY 14850 U. S. A.

Phone & Fax (607) 257-0886. E-mail mkinoshi@twcny.rr.com

ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTION SERIES: No. 5

Single Course Twining

1. Edge Trimming Braid for a cap used by the Hunza People.

One person works at the warp (Wp) and another at the weft (Wf). Number of loops: 8 Tie the yarn at the head end together in a overhand knot and secure it on a support. Fingers are numbered as indicated in INTRODUCTION. Wp: Mount the loops one each on the 4 fingers, 1, 2, 3, 4 of both hands. Hold the hands in front of you, palms facing each other in vertical position. Wf: Take a small ball of weft yarn or if the braid is sewn on as a trimming, thread the weft (cut in a convenient length) through the eye of a needle. Step 1: Wp transfers the 4 loops on the right hand to above the loops on the left corresponding fingers. (Fig. 1 top)

Step 2: Using the right hand Wp hooks up the lower loops on the left corresponding fingers. (Fig. 1 bottom)

Open the shed by raising the right arm and lowering the left arm.

Step 3: Wf Beats the shed and insert the weft.

Repeat Steps 1-3.

After the loops on the fingers of the right hand and left have been exchanged, the right-hand-side shanks and those of the left-hand-side of exchanged loops cross. The cross on one side is in S direction and the other in Z. By repeating the steps you get four each of S- and Z-inclined ridges staggered in every other row.

Figure 1: Copied from The Manual of Braiding
Curtesy of Noéni Speiser. Noémi Speiser © 1983

2. Loop-Manipulation Procedure for Making SCOT

Here, we introduce 'Chevron Broad of 8 bows,' #30 of "The Tollemache Book of Secrets: Treatise for Making of Laces."

16-element 2-section SCOT with a Chevron pattern

· No. of loops: 8 4 each of colors P and Q

· Mount loops on the four fingers of both hands; PPQQ QQPP.

· Mount loop R1 farther away from the tip. (This loop is R11)

Procedure:

Step 1: Insert R1 through the loops L4, L3, L2 and take the loop L1 by scooping up the top shank. (Now loop L1 is loop R1-2) Shift the loops on the left hand vacating the loop L4. L4 takes loop R1-2 by scooping up the top shank. Step 2: Follow Step 1 but in the mirror-image movement. Step 3: Exchange the loops L4 and R4. The loop R4 goes through the loop L4 while being careful that the upper shanks of the loops remain the same after the exchange. Beat the cross of loops R4 and L4. Step 4: Twist the left loops counterclockwise and the right loops clockwise. Beat at the crosses of the twisted loops and repeat from Step 1. Fig. 2 Up to 8-loop are used with one-person finger-held method for this procedure. With the h-h method, up to 20 or a larger number of loops may be used. (It depends on the size of the hands.) The number goes up if two or more braiders cooperate. An assistant or a beater stand is needed unless the braid being made is shorter than a half of your height.

3. The Yao's method: Palms-up and operating with the ring finger

The number of loops: 5 Mount the loops on L1, L2, Lc3, R1 and R2. Recipe 1. Two 5-element pig-tail braids (2-ridge braids at one shot) Step 1: Using R3, go though loops L4, L3. Scoop the left-hand-side shank of loop La and take it out through the loops L4, L3. Shift the loops on the left hand. Step 2: The same as above but in the mirror- image movement. Beat the fell to tighten. Repeat Steps 1 and 2. Recipe 2. 5-element Square braid Step 1-2: The same as above but hook from above the left-hand-side shank of loop L1 Recipe 3. 5-element 4-ridge flat braid Step 1: Follow Step 1 of the 'pig-tail braid' instruction. Step 2: Follow Step 2 of the 'square braid' instruction.