Holiday Braiding

Alan and I escaped the Family Christmas Get Togethers this year and went away ALONE for a few days. It was so relaxing, with none of the usual stress about food, presents etc.

I took my new braiding book, disc and lots of threads already prepared.

The first braid I tried was a 24 Anda-gumi. The threads are a mixture of my hand dyed threads. The blue and pink threads are Cotton Spiral. The variegated thread is Cotton Linen Viscose Thread.

When I got home I beaded the ends. I swear that took as long as the braiding did. I intially planned to wear the braid in my hair however it also long enoughto wear as a belt. I didn't add buckles so i can still wrap it around my hair if I want.

This second braid is also a 24 Anda-gumi. The braid structure is clearer due to strong contrast in colours. I changed the colour placement to the book. This image was taken as soon as I finished, I haven't steamed it flat yet.

While you are working with 24 bobbins this is a simple braid, there is no counting. Perfect for holidays. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this yet.

This braid is a 10 Zigzag edged Anda. I was pleased that chose those colours as it was easy to see when I had pulled too tight. Once I had remember not to do that the pattern came easy. I'm going to do another one and make it into a choker necklace.

Since I've been home I've been experimenting with a new fabric fixative for acrylic paints. I should say its not new just one I haven't used before. I slapped on some left over paint and heat set according to the instructions. I then popped it into the washing machine with a white singlet as test.

The machine has just beeped. Gotta go and see if its colourfast