One of my current ongoing yarny projects is using up some of the novelty yarn I was given a few years ago. It took a while for it to tell me what it wanted to be, but one day as I was making a braid using one of my kumihimo disks, I was admiring the colours and pattern of the braid, paid attention to the fact that it's hollow and squishy, and thought, 'If I made a bunch of these and sewed them together, this would make a cool bath mat.' Out came some scraps and odd skeins/balls of plain acrylic, novelty yarn scraps, and some ribbon yarn that a friend sent me. The experiment had begun.
I am not planning any designs on these. How the yarn goes on the disk is random and depends on how many lengths of various colours I can get out of the scraps I have. I love watching each braid emerge and seeing how the colours are playing together. It's all very scrappy and improv, which is my favourite way to work!
I like having a braid in progress, because this is completely mindless. Kumihimo can be quite intricate and require attention, but this is a plain 8-strand round braid, which only requires me to move strands of yarn from one slot to another and turn the disk.
When I want to have my attention on something else, but still do something with my hands, this is perfect. On the bus, there are no hooks or needles or balls of yarn/thread to drop and roll away--it's all on the disk. When I am tired, unable to concentrate, or feeling meh, I can still do this without worrying about making mistakes that I will have to rip out and correct in future. It's actually a good thing I feel this way because I figure that to complete this project I will need at least 50 braids--maybe a few more. Kumihimo isn't particularly fast. Braid 14 is looking fabulous on my disk at the moment. I have a while to go, but the yarn isn't going anywhere! 😁
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They're fun! I'm leaving the ends knotted as tassels. I think it will be cool when it's done--at least I hope so. Long way to go until then, but since every braid is different, I keep myself amused. Doesn't take much ;-)
I have never even heard of this braiding method. What rock have I been living under?! I love it-the colors are all gorgeous and what a fun project. I have to look this up! xo Diana
I hadn't heard of it either, until I saw it on a blog! Got the disks on eBay in a package of 2 for €2. They have square ones, too, for doing flat braids. It can be as simple or as intricate as you like. I've used yarn, thread, embroidery floss and embellished some braids and left some plain. There is some gorgeous work out there done with beads and cord.
"... completely mindless." Oh, I´m with you, sometimes we need just that! I remember a device I had as a kid that produced such braids.
It was of wood and looked like a doll.
What a perfect use for random yarn! You've really inspired me because with this move I'm now finally able to gather-up all of the random skeins I have been getting on sales and things to see what projects can possibly want to be made of them. I need a kitchen rug I think and this might be the best way to make it. One thing to consider tho is how it might be washed and dried. Do you think it will be harder to dry? Some yarns are bulkier than others and lead to wider/thicker pieces. Do you think you'll try to texture them by thickness somehow like in some symmetrical way or do you think maybe by colour or? It'll be interesting to see how it develops. How many do you suppose you'll need (at this rate) to finish it?
Iris--a knitting dolly to make i-cord! Fun! They make bigger versions now, too, in the form of round knitting looms, which make tubes instead of the i-cord. I used to have a few different sizes when we lived in Fairbanks. The first socks I made were on a sock loom--I still have a pair of those 20 years later! I ended up selling all of them on ebay before we moved. Circular needles take up less space and are more variable as far as size goes and I make my socks on double points. Kumihimo is a different sort of technique that came from Japan--traditionally was used to make cords to tie kimonos with, I think. There are these big wooden things that rotate and there can be many cords on those. The disk is a very simplified version--that suits me better :-D
Joy--I'm using gifted acrylic and novelty yarns made of synthetics, so washing and air drying will be easy. Acrylic dries really fast, since it's basically plastic, so water just sits on the surface and isn't absorbed. That's why I thought it'd be good for a bath mat--won't get moldy here like cotton would. I'll probably just put them together randomly. I like random and scrappy :-) I think I will need 50 or 55 braids and unless I missed one or two, I'm on number 14, so I have a while to go! Good thing I'm enjoying it! ;-)
A sock loom? Never heard of that! Ingo´s Granma knitted with two needles for our socks.
She was on the floor making little balls of equal size of different wools so the whole family got super-great socks, I still have them all!
See. Wanted to make a post on them, maybe I´ll do, even though we´re in summer (sorry for you, but I love this weather).
Very cool that you have Ingo's grandma's socks! I make mine on 4 double pointed knitting needles. I've tried two on two circulars, but don't like that method, so double points it is! I quite enjoy making socks--all the socks we have are ones I've made.
The sock looms are circles with pegs and they're just a bigger version of your knitting dolly--they make a tube. There is some way to make a heel.
It's decent here today, for June. Cloudy and supposed to be 14. Not great, but better than yesterday when it was 18. It rained last night. Hopefully there will be no sun today. It's always better when there is no sun. And just 10 days until solstice when we start heading in the right direction again--yay!
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