Fingerloop Braiding

Fingerloop Braiding

Sometimes you need some cord and one fun and fast way to make one is fingerloop braiding (for tutorials see Links below).
It is a medieval technique and I used it several times with good results.
On the photo you see two of my self-made cords.
The most difficult part is for me to get the cord evenly, because you must adapt to the loops become shorter while working.
But it is only a question of practising ;-)


Links:
Fingerloop.org:
Basic Braiding Instructions

Phiala’s String Page:
Basic Braiding Instructions
Fingerloop braiding for two or more people

The Tudor Costume Page:
Making Finger Braids (many explaining photos)

Hochmittelalter Infoseite:
Fingerloop Braiding (German, very good illustrations)

Finger Knitted Bracelets

V and Co Finger Knitted Bracelets

I somehow like bracelets ;-)
I find best at these finger knitted bracelets that the tutorial shows finger knitted bracelets made with a different number of fingers.

You can make of course (more or less) similar bracelets with fingerloop or Kumihimo.
And I also wrote already about making t-shirt yarn :)

 


Links:
Finger Knitted Bracelets (V and Co how to: jersey knit bracelet)
via: Teen craft

Here at unikatissima:
Entries with the tag ‘bracelet’
Entries containing the word ‘fingerloop’
Entries with the tag ‘Kumihimo’
T-Shirt Yarn

Braid a Bracelet

Braid a Bracelet

Somebody wanted to know recently in the German blog how to braid a square bracelet.
I found out, that you can use all three techniques (braiding, Kumihimo, fingerloop):

 


- Picture left: Braid: 8-strand square braid
- Picture center: Kumihimo: Kumihimo tutorial – square braid – firkantfletting
- Picture right: fingerloop: Tutorial: START HERE! 5-loop braids

Here at unikatissima:
2 Techniques – 1 Cord

Quick Cords

Faserfimmel Quick Cords

I presented several techniques already to make cords but I’d never thought about this simple and yet so cute idea: place yarns side by side and sew together with a zig zag stitch.
Brilliant!
Unfortunately I can’t do this because my sewing machine doesn’t have a zig zag stitch.
I think I will go on with braiding, weaving, knitting and crochet ;-))


Links:
Quick Cords (Schnelle Schnüre) (German)
Google translation to English

Here at unikatissima:
Fingerloop Braiding
Kumihimo
Clothesline Knitting or Filled I-cord
Clothesline Crochet
Entries with the tag ‘cord’

2 Techniques – 1 Cord

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord

Recently somebody showed me a simple yet beautiful finger loop pattern.
At home I tried it directly again, it is the outer cord (above and below), I braided it first to the left and then to the right.

Then I thought that I worked such a pattern in Kumihimo already, but the one I made worked a little different.
Therefore I transcribed the new finger loop pattern to a Kumihimo pattern (the middle cord on the photo).
The Kumihimo cord became much sturdier because I used quite a heavy weight.

Both are braidung techniques and I reckon that every finger loop pattern can be ‘translated’ to a Kumihimo pattern but surely not the other way round.

Afterwards I did some research and found that ‘my finger loop pattern’ has been described on the pattern page of the Fingerloop Braids Website as ‘A lace bend rounde of 8 bowes — c. 1475’ (viz. it is done with 8 loops in place of 6 loops in my case) – but I never understood the notation ;-))

Here I show you how I made the finger loop cord and the Kumihimo cord, you had perhaps problems with the notation, too ;-)

 

Finger loop cord

Cut 6 threads of the same length and elasticity and lay them in half to form loops.
Make 3 threads per colour (here dark blue and turquoise).
Knot the open sides together and fix them somewhere to be able to braid with the loops (you can find more detailed instructions in the links of my entry about finger loop).

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
Take the loops of one colour on the index, middle finger and ring finger of one hand and those of the other colour on the corresponding fingers of the left hand.
Here I took the turquoise loops on the left and the dark blue loops on the right hand.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
First swap the loops of the right index and the left ring finger.

To do this lay the loop of the right index behind the loop of the left ring finger…

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
…and take then the loop from the left ring finger on the right index.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
You have now on the left hand two turquoise loops (on the index and the middlefinger) and a dark blue loop (on the ring finger) and on the right hand one turquoise loop (on the index) and two dark blue loops (on the middle and the ring finger).

Note: I didn’t take a photo of it, but after every swap open your arms wide to tighten the braid and make it sturdier.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
Next swap the loops of both middle fingers in the same way.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
You have now on the left hand one turquoise and two dark blue loops and on the right hand the other way round.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
For now the last step is the swap of the loops of the right ring finger and the left index.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
Now you have all three turquoise loops on the right hand and the dark blue loops on the left hand.

That’s been the first half of the steps to do.
Repeat all steps (index right-ring finger left-swap, middle finger-swap, ring finger right-index left-swap) to bring back the turquoise loops to the left hand and the dark blue loops to the right hand, then you have braid a full round.

Repeat the steps until your cord is of desired length.

 

Kumihimo cord

Cut here too threads of the same length and elasticity, but this time cut 6 threads of one colour (here turquoise) and 6 in another (here dark blue).
I made the cord on my cardboard marudai, but it was no fun at all because you have to re-lay the threads for this pattern to their appropriate places at every braid.
At least by now is the moment to ‘construct’ a marudai (links to self-made marudai in my Kumihimo entry).

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
Sort your threads as shown in the graphic.
Lay the upper dark blue thread pair between the threads of the lower turquoise thread pair and then lay both turquoise threads where the dark blue ones have been.
Push together the thread pairs to clearly separate them from each other.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
In the second step you do the same with the dark blue thread pair top left and the turquoise thread pair down right.
Here again push together the thread pairs neatly.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
In the third step you do the same with the dark blue thread pair down left and the turquoise thread pair top right.

That was the first half of the steps and here, too, the steps must be repeated to get back to the original colour distribution:

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
Lay the upper turquoise thread pair between the threads of the lower dark blue thread pair and then lay both dark blue threads where the turquoise ones have been.
Always push together the thread pairs neatly.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
In the fifth step do the same with the turquoise thread pair top left and the dark blue thread pair down right.
Here again push together the thread pairs neatly.

 

unikatissima Fingerloop Kumihimo Cord
In the last step of this round you do the same with the turquoise thread pair down left and the dark blue thread pair top right.
As always push together the thread pairs neatly.

You have finished the first round now, repeat all six steps until your cord has the desired length.

Have fun with the comparison of the two techniques finger loop and Kumihimo and make some beautiful cords :)


Links:
Marca brandenburgensis anno domini 1260 – that’s where the woman came from who showed me the pattern

Fingerloop Braids Website: Fingerloop Braid Patterns
and there:
the finger loop pattern that I presented here, but with 8 loops (‘A lace bend rounde of 8 bowes — c. 1475’)

Here at unikatissima:
Finger loop
for more detailed instructions see there the links

Kumihimo
   for the construction of a self-made marudai see there the links
   my template for a cardboard marudai

On this page:
Instruction for finger loop cord
Instruction for Kumihimo cord

Crazy Daisy Ring

unikatissima Crazy Daisy Ring

After having played around with Crazy Daisies (see links below) I found out that you can make a ring from them very easily.

 

unikatissima Crazy Daisy Ring You take a Crazy Daisy (instructions see links below) and attach a ring ;-)

 

unikatissima Crazy Daisy Ring In this case I made and attached a simple, single-coloured Kumihimo strap from the same yarn I used for the Crazy Daisy.
I could have used a simple wire ring, similar to the River Troll Ring, a woven ring, a macramé ring similar to the Beaded Macramé Bracelet, a fingerlooped ring, a crocheted or knitted ring, a simple beaded ring, a Peyote Ring, etc etc etc ;-))


Links:
Here at unikatissima:
Crazy Daisies
Crazy Daisies II
Kumihimo
Fingerloop Braiding

Rings and similar items here at unikatissima:
River Troll Ring
Woven Ring
Beaded Ring
Peyote Ring

Beaded Macramé Bracelet

10 Minute Boa

unikatissima 10 Minute Boa

If you need a boa quickly (with accessories!) the tutorial on how to make a 10 minute boa will be helpful.
Although I never needed a boa quickly up until now ;-))

Originally it is crocheted, but I am sure that you can finger crochet (see Links below) or make a fingerloop braid.


Links:
10 Minute Boa

Concerning finger crochet:
Finger Crochet Jewelry
Crochet a Bracelet With Your Fingers

Here at unikatissima: Fingerloop Braiding