Other terms for loop braiding are:
Fingerloop braiding, finger loop braiding, finger-held loop-manipulation braiding, Kute-uchi, Peruvian (or Andean) hand-held loop braiding.
Fingerloop braiding is done with loops held on separate fingers, hand-held loop braiding is done with loops held over the whole hand, lined up in order.
Almost all the posts on my site are actually about loop braiding, even the ones I haven’t placed in this category!
This video shows how to follow one of the charts you might come up with in using Gary Mitchell’s interactive pattern-generator for the 7-loop “Spanish” finger loop braid. It also demos a slightly different way to turn the loops, which gives the braid a more evenly rectangular cross-section…
A reader of this blog has come up with what may be the first interactive fingerloop braid pattern-planner! A few months ago Gary Mitchell contacted me to tell me that he was working on a pattern planner for the 7-loop Spanish braid. This was a huge surprise! (Especially since at that point the tutorial hadn’t even garnered many views.)
A couple of months ago, when I had to make some sample braids for an article, I decided to try a waxed cotton cord I had seen online. I wanted to use something stiffer than embroidery floss, something that would really show the structure of the braids.
This braid is an unusual variation of a 7-loop spanish braid, with intricate color-patterns and a shape that is firmly rounded rather than rectangular in cross-section. Invented or discovered by Douglas Grant, a reader of this blog, who allowed me to share it here. (Thanks, Doug!) [A more recent post has the video for this braid, but this post has photos + instructions for several different color patterns.]
Information about other sites that have good loop braiding tutorials, and why their basic braid instructions may seem different than mine.
Thanks, Gudrun, Julie, and Annie!
Thanks, Ricky, Sawyer, Ramona, Patty, Dominic and “Aunt” Janet!
7-loop braids are just one step up from 5 loops, but they add a lot more color pattern possibilities! And the flat variation turns out even wider and more ribbon-like. (9-loop braids come next!)
I’ll be teaching a 2-day loop braiding workshop the last weekend of January, and there is room for a few more participants. It’ll be in the San Francisco bay area (Redwood City), email me if you are interested, and I’ll send you more info about it. UPDATE: The workshop is full now. There’s been enough…
The Japanese hand-held loop braiding technique that preceded kumihimo and produced incredibly complex and gorgeous braids–some more complex than are even possible to make easily on braiding stands! Two videos teaching the two most basic moves for making square and flat braids, and text instructions for a more complex braid that requires using both moves.
Unbraiding is a real time-saver. If you make a mistake that you just can’t “live with,” it’s almost always quicker to unbraid it than to start all over again cutting yarn and setting up for a new braid. Even if you’ve braided an inch or more past the mistake by the time you notice it…
An alternative method for braiding the 15th C. eight-loop braids known as Lace Dawns (or Daunce) and Lace Piole. It is a faster method, with no doubled loops on any fingers. (Requires using the thumb of only one hand, so might be a good intro to 9-loop square braids.)
Sep 30, 2011 I now (finally) have videos for all three of my square braid tutorials. The introductory level (5- loop braids) tutorial has 4 videos—2 on the square braid and 2 on making a flat, wide variation with a loop/ buttonhole at each end. I made the first two at a super-slow-mo speed that…
A ‘Plain Oblique Twined’ braid — usually abbreviated as POT by ply-split braiders. This kind of twining can also be done with loop braiding. I love this braid, and got to use it as part of a Braid Society Swap because of its unplanned resemblance to a Navajo sand painting figure… (not a tutorial)
Some of the reasons why 2 and 3-loop braids are so useful. These three-, four-, and six-strand braids are easy and quick to produce with finger loop braiding—in fact you get two at the same time in the case of three-strand braids..
How to set up the loops on your fingers to get the color order you want in your square, flat, Spanish, or double braid. Also, many square and flat braid color-patterns with setup instructions (and some flat double braid patterns contributed by Dan Gaiser). Part 2: hints and ideas on how to choose effective color combinations for your braids.
Two topics: 1. Braiding longer lengths than your reach, and 2. Starting braids with no loose ends at the top. (These two topics are slightly related.)
I am very excited about this! I just got word that my workshop proposal (Intro to double braids as a solo braider) was accepted by the organizers of Braids 2012! That’s an international braiding conference (who knew?) that will be held in Manchester, England next year, August 20 – 24, put on by the Braid…
5- loop square and flat braids are easy to learn, and make great-looking cords and bands. For an even easier intro, try my new tutorial for 3-loop braids.
Eleven-loop braids! Yes, just like 5, 7, and 9-loop square and flat braids, but with 11 loops, so more color possibilities, and a bigger braid…Requires holding two loops on the little finger. Photo-tute and videos.
Loop Braiding 