A new variation …

This post is coming a little late, but you know what they say – “Better late than never”! As it turns out I was on set today for a pilot being shot here in Vancouver. Apparently, the chances of it being picked up are pretty high. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. So today I was lucky enough to have a few hours to design a new variation on a 12-strand braid. You gotta love days like that. Unfortunately, I didn’t select a particularly good yarn for this kind of work. I didn’t like he way it felt for Celtic Knotwork. Oh well, I did manage to get a few rows designed and I quite like how it is coming out. At about the point where it s now, I decided to stop working with this particular and continue the rest by drawing. I am definitely going to redo it with a different yarn and complete the original idea I had. Here is the braid so far …

This picture shows you the braid about half way through the pattern I intend. The great thing about doing braid variations though is that you get ideas as you go along. In this case, I quite like it the way it is right now and could see using that particular pattern for an edging around a hat or even the bottom of a sweater or coat. It could be separated by a simple cable stitch and then repeated as many times as needed to go around the particular piece of knitting. I will have to go back to rows with it to work out the pattern so that all the strands terminate in a cable. Luckily, as you might be able to see, I was charting this as I went along, so I have the pattern to work with. Now that I’m home, I’ll chart it out on the computer as that is much simpler and a lot faster. I can also make adjustments as necessary and move things around to try new looks. All without even having to knit a stitch! I’ll try and do that and post the pictures soon. The pattern will be available sometime in the future as a part of a collection of motifs I’m working on with a friend. In the meantime though, if you have the ebook, you should try charting out a 10 or 12-strand braid, knitting it to get the idea of the flow of the strands, then modify it to suit your style. It needn’t be intricate, just a modification that you’re happy with. Here’s one that was sent to me by Barone. He took the Saxon braid and adjusted it slightly to give a different look.

By adding three cable twists, Barone was able to personalize this braid. You can too … it just takes balls!

Hugzzz