Figuring it was time to branch out into more fingerloop braiding patterns, I elected to try the lace bend rounde of 8 bowes on fingerloop.org, a very attractive 2-color spiral when worked as suggested.
Exchanging loops between hands was a new move, and as it turns out a relatively easy one for me to conquer. From long years of piano-playing and all-finger typing, I am comfortable using all fingers, which no doubt helps. Avoiding dropping loops, especially as I neared the end, and loop length began to vary slightly, was the trickiest part. Do not despair if you struggle with this part! Curl tighter the fingers not actively involved in each exchange, and use your thumbs to manage the exchanging threads.
When I started the braid, I did not tension after each exchange, which was a mistake. You can see the looseness — even more than usual with a fingerloop start — at the beginning of my work.
A lace bend rounde of 8 bowes, brown and blue silk
I was unsure initially which way to draw the loops through when exchanging. The instructions for the move (given earlier on the page) suggest that you pull the left loop over the right loop. However, the text of this instruction clearly says to draw the left loop through the right loop. So that’s what I did.
Here’s how it went:
With my hands oriented this way, you can see how neatly the threads intertwine at the braid end.About to swap A (index) right with D (pinky) left.Dropping brown loop from AR onto DL, picking up blue loop from DL onto AR.About to swap B (middle) right with C (ring) left.Tensioning loops after BR / CL exchange. Top 2 loops on each hand are blue, bottom 2 loops are brown.About to swap C (ring) right with B (middle) left.Dropped off brown loop from BR onto CL, picking up blue loop from CL onto BR, reversed.Dropped off C (ring) R onto B (middle) L, picking up BL reversed onto CR.Using my thumb to manage the CR / BL exchange.Tensioning after the CR / BL swap. Top loop on right hand is blue, bottom loop on left hand is brown.Swapping D (pinky) right with A (index) left.Dropped off the brown loop from DR onto AL, picking up the blue loop from AL onto DR, reversed.Tensioning after all 4 swaps. Left hand holds brown loops, right hand is all blue.Turning left hand over, you can see how the threads intertwine at the end of the braid.Swap sequence begins again, swapping AR with DL.Tensioning after AL / DR exchange. Bottom loop left is blue, top loop right is brown.Swapping BR with CL.Tensioning after BR / CL exchange. Two top loops are brown, top bottom loops are blue, on both hands.Swapping CR with BL.Using my thumb to control the exchange between CR and BL.Tensioning after CR / BL swap. Top loop on left is brown, bottom loop on right is blue.Finally, exchange DL with AR.Back to where we started, with blue loops on the left hand and brown loops on the right.
One Reply to “Fingerloop braiding a lace bend round of 8 bowes”
One Reply to “Fingerloop braiding a lace bend round of 8 bowes”