Karen Williams

Winding Anda, used 2 strands of Habu Textiles, silk wrapped stainless steal.

This was too find for learning this braid, so I would not recommend!  It is about 1/2 inch wide.

I had a couple comments that might help others in making this braid:

• I was surprised it was more comfortable and faster to hold braid/plate with right hand and manage…

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I wanted to play with the takadai before using the weird cotton/PU yarn supplied.  So I used 2 strands of 10/2 cotton per tama to do a test warp.

I have a big collection of swords as a backstrap weaver.  The one I am using is 18″ long.  The tip is pointy enough to “pick” really easily and narrow enough to work well.  Sometimes the sword is not…[Read more]

In my box there was a small ziplock baggie with strips of cut cardboard….  What is that for?

I was hoping in Q&A on the 10th, you could cover again the variation not in the handout, where you have the flower outlined by a diamond in the opposite color, like it appears in the transition when you swap colors.  I am looking for the braiding steps. to repeat this outlined flower pattern over and over again.

Makiko,

I already owned KnitCompanion and knew it had counters.  It is an application that allows you to mark up and follow patterns that are in PDF form.  While developed for knitting patterns, I use all the time for card weaving and Andean weaving charts.  It has a lot more features on Apple devices, where it parses charts and can find them an…[Read more]

My brain was having trouble with Hira-Kongoh, which is funny because it is probably the easiest step.  But Makiko seemed to have more twist in her point of braiding than I did on Hira-Kongoh, and I could not figure out why.  I think I was doing it right all along, my point of braiding was just looser somehow in the beginning.

I am loving the b…[Read more]

If your computer and TV both have HDMI connections, it is really simple to set up.  You need an HDMI cable.  Sometimes computers/laptops (especially Apple laptops) have mini-HDMI ports, so you would need an adapter or non-standard cable.  Most Windows hardware uses standard HDMI ports, that look exactly like your TV’s HDMI port and will use a st…[Read more]

I think Rosalie is giving the # of colors for each braid.  So braid 14 has 5A and 3B which means there are 5 tama in color A and 3 tama in color B.  The numbers should always add up to 8.  She mentions this so if you warp 5A and 3B you know you could do braids 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19 & 21 with the same warp.  I think this would help you play wit…[Read more]

The video is available now!!!

For Hira-Nejiri 1 you do AB 4x then C, so ABABABABC.  Or (AB)4x (C).

I just finished all 3 twisted braids and was impressed with how clear the instructions are (as long as I did not over thing it).  I had to do the 3rd braid this morning with a clear mind, but it was not as scary as the length of the diagram suggests.  It helped me to un…[Read more]

I think I have Hira-Nejiri down and am enjoying this braid.  This class was a skill huge expansion for me.  I will be working my way through the remaining 2 braids in the handout next.

I am hoping Makiko’s video is available separate from the ZOOM recording.  There was a lot of unmuted speaker and audio feedback while the video was playing ma…[Read more]

Rosalie’s chart called for 30 ends of Japanese silk when using 24 tamas.  Catherine’s book implies she is using 12 strands/ends regardless of number of tama.  So I am left wondering if Catherine’s silk was thicker than what Rosalie is using, of if Catherine was just making thinner braids.

Thanks for the photo.  In regard to the counterweight, if…[Read more]

Carolyn – Thanks for the great and quick reply.

I am curious if anyone has tried both the kneeling on the shorter marudai and sitting at the taller marudai, if they can compare/contrast.  I suspect that every person will be different, depending on the length of your torso and arms.  I know with spinning wheels, often finding the right chair h…[Read more]

Hi,  I am a little late to start, as I was waiting for purchased imposter threads.  I thought one of the cool things about doing this class was the experience of using the pre-bundled fibers.  I have several questions:

1.  How many moves you make before adding more twist, and maybe the angle of twist (30 degrees) that you consider ide…[Read more]