Here’s a tutorial for a very non-traditional 12-loop “Odd” braid with an unusual number of loop-transfers: Five!

It has the same (in general) 2/2-twill type of interlacing as a 5-loop square braid and a 10-loop double braid, because each loop is always transferred through two other loops.

To make it as a team braid, the right braider would hold 5 loops and do regular square braid moves: two loop transfers in every ‘row’ of braiding.

But the left braider would braid something very odd: a “Square-and-a-Half” braid. That is, a wider-than-square braid of 7 loops and three loop-transfers – one more loop transfer than a square braid. Three loop transfers means that the braiding moves are different on the left and right hands, another odd thing about the braid. Text instructions for two different ways to make the fun Square-and-a-Half braid are here, further down this page.

Ok, back to the larger 12-loop “Odd” braid: if you add the square-and-a-half braid to a regular square braid – side-by-side – together into one braid, they become a 5-transfer braid of 10 ridges, with a fell shape of N (square-and-a-half) + V (square braid) = NV. Totally odd! If made by a solo braider, this larger braid also requires different braiding moves on the right and left hands – like its little sister the 7-loop Square-and-a-half braid.

Braiding it by myself, I hold seven loops on the left hand, and five loops on the the right – demoed in the video below. An obvious question might be “Why not go for 7 loops and three loop transfers on both hands? The more loops the better, right?”

You could use this 7-loop strategy on both hands and make some nice braids. But what I’m interested in is the odd number of transfers, because if you use bicolor loops, and turn all the loop transfers, you can get some really fun and asymmetrical color-patterns.

Above is a video tutorial for my solo-braider strategy for this braid. It can also be made by two braiders working together, one braiding a 5-loop square braid, and the other braiding a 7-loop square-and-a-half braid.*

So far, I think this is my only video that demos an outside-around move with finger-held loops – it’s in the first loop transfer, where I lift the innermost 2 loops of the left little finger over/ around the outermost loop. I use this type of move for any braid in which I’m holding two or more loops on the thumb or little finger, and I want the outermost loop to be transferred INWARD, through the neighboring loop or loops on that same finger. (In this case, the actual “transferring” loop is not itself physically lifted and moved! Instead, the two loops it moves through are lifted and moved around the transferring loop.)

Corrections to video:
1. After the 3rd loop transfer (to the thumb) I repeatedly refer to an upper SHANK as the “upper LOOP”, sorry! There’s only one loop, with two shanks, an upper shank and a lower shank.
2. In the video I say that there are 12 cycles to one pattern-repeat, but actually that’s a half-repeat – with bicolor loops, a full pattern-repeat for this braid takes 24 cycles. The half-repeat is a good point to check the loops, though, because they should all be back on the fingers where they started, though with the opposite shank colors upward.

Braid samples

12-loop 5-transfer braids, “solid rectangle” variation (all loops are turned when transferred). Top two braids have all bicolor loops. Lowest braid has 11 red/white bicolor loops, and one all-black loop.

(Set-up instructions for the 3 color-patterns shown above follow the endnotes.)

Cross-section diagrams:

Noémi Speiser’s track-plan system. Idealized cross-sections of both component braids on left, and of the combined braid on right. Track-plans are also like flow charts of the over-under pathway(s) taken by the strands in a braid.

Another solid-rectangle 5-transfer braid. This busier color-pattern was the result of a mistake in loading the loops on my fingers for a different pattern. 10 bicolor red/white loops and two all-black loops.

Structural variations:
To get asymmetrical bicolor-loop color patterns doesn’t actually require turning all the loop transfers, just an odd number of them. So braid shape variations other than the solid rectangle braid can result in ‘regular’, more symmetrical braid patterns if an even number of transfers are turned, but asymmetrical patterns if an odd number are turned, as in the Side-Slit examples below. The Side-slit braid variation requires 3 turned transfers (in the center of the braid), and 2 straight (unreversed/open) transfers – one on each edge of the braid.

Side-slit shape variation of the 5-transfer braid. 3 turned loop transfers, and 2 straight loop transfers – one at each edge of the braid.

Track-plan diagram: cross-section of the Side-slit variation braids above

The component Square-and-a-half braid has some fun asymmetrical patterns, too:

7-loop Square-And-a-Half braids of 3 loop transfers, several shape and color-pattern variations (instructions here). Right braid made with doubled strands of embroidery floss, all other braids single strands.

Aside from the more familiar example of flat braids, I first stumbled onto this type of asymmetrical color-pattern back when I was experimenting with double braid variations. Double braids have 4 loop transfers in each cycle, or row, of braiding. At least 3 possible double braids require an odd number of turned loop transfers: the Flat double braid, the Half-hollow double braid, and the Single Side-slit double braid. (I teach the last two in my article on Double Braids in the Braids 2012 Conference Proceedings book Threads That Move, see photos from article below, and links to sites that carry the Proceedings book in sidebar.) The latter two double braids require 3 turned loop transfers and a single straight loop transfer. Because of that ‘oddness,’ their bicolor-loop color-patterns are very asymmetrical, with pattern repeats that are twice as long as those of a solid rectangle double braid (20 cycles rather than 10 for a 10-loop braid):

10-loop, 4-transfer Double braids with 3 turned loop transfers – Single Side-slit shape.

10-loop, 4-transfer Double braids of 3 turned loop transfers – Half-hollow shape. (Strands That Move article on double braids).

The brown-and-white color-pattern above reminds me of random cow-skin blotches! The blotches actually do repeat eventually, but the pattern repeat is twice as long as that of a double braid having an even number of turned loop transfers.

“Regular”, symmetrical patterns for the 12-loop “Odd” braid:
The “Odd” 5-transfer braid can have symmetrical bicolor-loop color patterns if you turn an even number of the total 5 transfers.

Edge pattern (lengthwise stripes of color down the braid ridges) is only possible in braids that have an even number of turned loop transfers. You can’t braid an Edge pattern if you turn all the loop transfers in my 5-transfer “Odd” braid. But you can get an edge pattern if you don’t turn one of the transfers:

12-loop braid of 5 loop transfers and two different structures: Top half is the Single Side-slit shape, and bottom half is the Central-tube shape. Both have 4 turned loop-transfers and one straight (open) transfer. Both can be made with an “Edge” pattern of lengthwise striping.

The shadow under this braid makes it hard to tell that the top half of the braid has a wider black edge along the left side than along the right. (Visible if you click to enlarge the photo twice.)

The top half of the braid has a “Single Side-slit” structure – four turned loop transfers, and the leftmost transfer straight (no turn/ open/ unreversed). That’s the edge of the braid with a shallow slit into it, dividing the upper and lower layers of the braid. That black edge is wider than the black edge on the right side of the braid. So the braid has an asymmetrical shape (one edge slit, the other solid), but can have symmetrical bicolor loop color-patterns – the evenly alternating blue-gold horizontal stripes for example, and an ‘Edge’ pattern. Neither are possible if all 5 transfers are turned.

The lower part of the braid was braided also with four turned transfers, but here the single straight transfer is at dead center of the braid, creating a narrow hollow area down the middle of the braid. Its ‘Edge’ pattern has equally-narrow black edges. And in this case the structure is symmetrical too, since the straight transfer happens in the exact center of the braid.

Update – I forgot to include the following shape variation when I first posted, adding it now (7-7-19):
Below are a couple of samples of the 2-Tubes shape variation. This braid has a symmetrical shape, like the central-tube variation above, but has an odd number of turned loop transfers, so tends to have asymmetrical bicolor loop color-patterns:

Two-tubes shape variation of the 5-transfer braid. Two narrow hollow areas, one on each side of center of braid. Odd number of turned loop transfers.

I’ve only braided these two samples of this braid so far. The first pattern in the blue and black sample started with all dark shanks upward on the fingers. I vaguely expected an asymmetrical ‘blotches’ pattern, but instead got a much busier one. I then switched to this braid’s version of the Broken Edge pattern (longest possible stretch of darks or lights in each braid column). The black and gray sample is also this “Broken Edge” pattern.

Track-plan diagram of the Two-Tubes variation braids above. The upper and lower layers of the braid are connected at the sides and in the center. There are 2 hollow areas through the braid, one on each side of the mid-line.

End notes:

All these 5-transfer braids are 2/2 twill (more or less), like a 5-loop square braid or 10-loop double braid, because transferred loops are always pulled through 2 adjacent loops. (Some of the twill ridges can actually end up having a span of 3 or 1 due to factors I don’t want to get into here!)

You can also make 5-transfer braids with fewer loops, by pulling some or all of the transfers through only 1 loop, for either a plain-weave, or a mixed plain-weave and twill 5-transfer braid (like my 6 and 8-loop double braids).

I’m sure there are several other possible ways to do the braiding moves. I gravitated to this configuration of moves because it recycles some of my letterbraid strategies for the left hand loops. The right hand moves are the way I usually undo double braids (in the reverse order, though).

7-loop Square-And-a-Half braids of 3 loop transfers, several shape and color-pattern variations. Right braid made with doubled strands of embroidery floss, all other braids single strands.

7-loop Square-and-a-Half braid:
Either on its own, or if one braider of a team will be braiding this braid, there are a few different ways to make the 7-loop, 3-transfer “Square-and-a-half” braid. Text directions for 2 different ways below.
Note: For either method, left and right hands do very different moves.

The first method requires holding a loop with the left thumb. The second method doesn’t require using either thumb, but instead the left ring finger has to do a rather convoluted move.

R = right; L = left
th(umb), a, b, c, d = thumb, index, middle, ring, little fingers
Ra = right index finger, or the loop on the right index.

1st method (using left thumb):
7 loops: Lthumb, a, b, c, d; Ra, b

3 Loop transfers:
1. Rc (fetcher finger) thru Ld and Lc, takes Lb. (Lc and d shift up one position)
Tighten.
2. Ra is the new fetcher – it will move the Left b loop to Left thumb: Ra goes (from above the loop) thru Lthumb and La, to take Lb through them, and temporarily hold it. Lthumb and La shift down one position, making room on Lthumb. Then Ra places the taken loop onto Lthumb. (No tightening move)
[fetching finger must go through Lth and La “from behind” the loop as in Slentre and A-fell braiding. See this exact move in the 12-loop video above at 5:00 min.s into the video (in that braid it’s the 3rd loop transfer).]
3. Ld goes thru Rc and Rb, takes Ra. (Rc and Rb shift up one position).
Tighten.

For a solid rectangle braid, turn the loop each time you transfer it.

2nd method (no thumbs needed):
The first two loop transfers are somewhat similar to the Spanish 7-loop braid. Here, though, loops are always transferred through two adjacent loops, never through just one.
The tricky move is the second loop transfer, which has to be done by the left ring finger (not the middle finger as in the 7-loop Spanish braid) reaching through the little-finger loops of both hands, to fetch the right hand’s ring finger loop.

7 loops: La, b, c; Ra, b, c, d

3 Loop transfers:
1. Right A is fetcher. Ra thru Left c, b, takes La, places it on Ld.
Lb, c shift up one position, vacating Lc (ring finger) to be next fetching finger.
2. Lc thru Ld, Rd, takes Rc.
Rd shifts up to Rc.
Tighten.
3. Left A is fetcher. La thru Right A and Rb (from above and thru the back of the loops as in A-fell braiding), takes Rc and temporarily holds it.
Ra, b shift down one position.
La places taken loop onto Ra.
Tighten.

Note: These braids could also be made with the opposite direction of moves, in the same way that you would unbraid the braid I teach here. But if I wanted to braid in that “backwards” direction solo for the 12-loop braid, I might try to work out another way to hold the loops than having three on the left little finger. It’s not as convenient to unbraid in that configuration as it is to braid.

12-loop solid-rectangle patterns: “Stairstep Edge”, “Blue Blotches”, “Stairstep Edge with Contrast Black Loop”   (Solid-rectangle = all transfers turned.)

Th, A, B, C, D, = Thumb, Index, Middle, Ring, Little fingers
Dlo, Dmid, Dhi  = Low, Mid, High loop positions on little finger (left hand only)

~Note: in the set-ups below “Black/pink” after a particular finger means black shank UP and pink shank DOWN.

First color-pattern: “Stairstep Edge” in black and pastels
[or substitute white for all the pastels]
12 bicolor loops of black and pastel (4 Yellow, 4 Purple, 4 Pink)

(Ignore the two columns of numbers in parentheses below! You don’t need them for loading these patterns. They can be helpful for planning your own color-patterns. Explained at the bottom of the page.)

2nd Color-pattern: “Blotches”
I used 3 shades of blue, but this pattern also looks very striking with just white and dark blue – more graphic and bold. For that 2-color version, just start with all light shanks up (or all dark shanks up – either way will produce the same pattern).

12 bicolor loops
4 Blue/white; 4 Turquoise/white; 4 Navy/white

Left hand:
Th – Blue/ White
A — Blue/ White
B — Blue/ White
C — Blue/ White
Dlo — Navy/ White
Dmid – Navy/ White
Dhi — Turquoise/White

Right hand:
Th – Turq/White
A — Navy/ White
B — Turq/White
C — Turq/White
D — Navy/ White

3rd color-pattern: “Stairstep Edge + Black contrast loop”

11 bicolor loops of Red/ white
1 single-color loop of all-Black

Left hand:
Th – Red/white
A — Red/white
B — Red/white
C — White/ red
Dlo — White/ red
Dmid – White/ red
Dhi — Black loop

Right hand:
Th – Red/white
A — Red/white
B — White/ red
C — White/ red
D — White/ red

Numbers in parentheses are for planning your own color patterns: In the first color pattern above, both the two columns of numbers in parentheses (on the right of the loop set-up) indicate the order in which loops are moved – the loop sequence in this particular braiding method.

You need to know the loop order to plan a color-pattern. (You don’t need to know it for just making up a random color-pattern! That’s also a great way to discover new patterns.) The sequence in both columns is actually exactly the same – the only difference between the two columns is in which loop is considered to be #1 in the sequence. The sequence is circular, so in a way it doesn’t matter which loop you ‘count’ as #1.

Left column of numbers in parentheses
The left column of numbers shows the most straightforward way to list the loop/ color sequence in the braid – IF you are only using single-color loops, not bicolor loops. It’s very convenient for loading loops onto the hands to count Loop/ color #1 as the first loop that will move from the left to the right hand, which (in this braid) is always the left D-mid loop (the middle loop of the three loops on the left little finger). In the first column of parentheses, the loops are all numbered to show the order that each one will jump over to the right hand, as each successive row is braided. Even the loops that are already on the right hand will eventually be back on the left hand and ready to make that same jump over to the right hand again, so they come later in the 12-loop sequence than the loops on the left hand. This sequence also creates the sequential order that the loops and their colors are displayed in the braid, down each of the lengthwise columns (‘ridges’) of the braid. To plan a particular color-order in the braid, you need to follow this numerical sequence when deciding what colors to place on which fingers before you start braiding.

This order is circular, so as long as you follow this circular order, you could actually label ANY of the loops “#1”. But for convenience of loading the colors, I usually prefer Loop/ color #1 to be the first loop that will move from the left hand to the right hand. That way, all the loop colors of the left hand will be listed first, followed by all the loop colors of the right hand. That’s the most straightforward way to load the colors onto your hands – all the loops of one hand first, followed by all the loops of the other hand. It’s easier to load a bunch of different colors in the right order if you can load the colors onto one hand first, followed by the other hand.

Loop #2 (the left D-low loop) will be the NEXT loop that will move from the left to the right hand. By that time it it will have reached the Left D-mid position, but at the start of braiding it’s on left D-low.
The loops will all follow each other in this circular and repeating order shown in the first column of parentheses, so that is the order that the braid’s color sequence must follow. (For any of the shape variations of this braid, not just the solid rectangle.)

Bicolor Loops:
Bicolor loops have an extra dimension to consider in planning and loading a color sequence.
Even though the loop order on the fingers is the same as with single-color loops, there are really twice the number of strands to plan. Every finger carries one light and one dark shank, and these switch positions in the braid each time the loop is turned, causing a color change. This doesn’t happen with single-color loops – turning them also switches the two strands, but since they are the same color, there is no change in the colors of the braid at that point. But for any particular bicolor pattern, the ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of the dark/light shanks must be carefully arranged at the start of braiding.

In the Stairstep a.k.a. Broken Edge pattern, the 12 dark shanks are grouped together in the braid – following each other in the braid down each column, followed by all 12 light shanks all grouped together. This striking and simple-looking braided color pattern does not have a simple-looking set-up arrangement on the fingers, however. You must start braiding with the loops of some fingers dark-up and the loops of other fingers light-up, in a different arrangement on the two hands. There always several possible starting setups for any color-pattern, but usually one of these is simpler/ easier to set up on the fingers. (The reason there are several possible starting set-ups is that in each successive row of braiding, the colors shift on the fingers – and each of these arrangements would work as a starting set-up on the fingers.)

To me, the simplest set-up for Stairstep/ Broken Edge is the Dark – Light arrangement I itemized above. (The other possible set-ups are much more complicated mixes of dark-up/ dark-down on the fingers).

Right column of numbers in parentheses:
This is in fact the same circular sequence as listed in the left column, but here the sequence starts with the 3rd loop on the left little finger (LD-high). This is the loop labeled “#1”. To me, this is the easiest way to plan the loop order of bicolor patterns of more than 2 colors – like the black with various pastel colors of my Stairstep Edge sample.  Be sure to still follow the same up/down arrangement for darks and lights as described in the set-up directions.

The right column is numbered in the same circular order as the left column, but loop #1 is shown as the Left D-high loop, which means loop # 2 in the sequence is on the other hand: Right C.

Reason for starting sequence in this weird place!:
This starting point for the color sequence is helpful IF you are using bicolor loops of more than two colors – say for example several different light colors on one side, with black on the other side, and you want those light colors to follow each other in a certain order.

The black strands can obviously be in any order amongst themselves as they are all black. But in my Black/Pastel bicolor example above, I wanted the pastel strands to show up in the braid with the 4 yellow strands together, the 4 purple strands together, and the 4 pink strands together – not have the 12 strands of three colors all mixed together in the braid. So I had to load those pastel colors in the exact order shown in the columns above, and bearing in mind note 2 below, I chose to make Color #1 of the pastel/ light colors be light yellow on my Left D-high finger, followed by the next yellow on my Right C finger, since that’s the next loop-color in the braid, etc etc.

1. Two-color Stairstep/ Broken Edge pattern: 12 dark strands followed by 12 light strands down each lengthwise ridge (column) of the braid.
For this braid’s solid rectangle shape, I find that the simplest set-up arrangement for the “Broken/ Stairstep Edge” pattern is to start with the dark and light shanks in the up/down positions given above.

2. Stairstep Edge in more than two colors: If you use the same dark-light up/down starting set-up I show above (to  me the simplest set-up for loading onto the fingers) then the first light-colored shank that will appear in any column of the braid (following all the blacks) will be the light shank that starts out in Left D-high position.  (That’s why I show it as loop #1 in the right column of parentheses)
That will be the first pastel strand to appear in every braid column immediately following each long stretch of black. The next light color following it down each column will be the one on Right C, etc etc.

If I hadn’t bothered to follow that order in setting up the pastel colors on my fingers, it wouldn’t have changed the main dark-light pattern, but it would have slightly jumbled the order of the pastel colors within their sections of the braid.

It would make a much bigger difference to the overall braid pattern to change the Up/down arrangement of the dark and light shanks than to change the order of the pastel colors. The larger dark-light pattern would probably be completely altered (maybe with a wonderful result!).

Like Edge-pattern in more symmetrical braids, the “Broken/Stairstep Edge” pattern is a great starting point for coming up with other color patterns.

Posted July 2, 2019
Last updated October 12, 2026

© 2019-2026 Ingrid Crickmore