I wanted the ribbon for threading through gathers, for which tablet-woven braid isn't really very suitable; it's too stiff, which is why I was trying to use sewing thread in order to produce a floppier result. However I eventually solved the problem in only a few hours' work by using a *knotted* flat cord, which was both less stiff than braid and less bulky than one would expect -- in fact it even proved slightly stretchy, which I certainly hadn't anticipated!
I can't find any diagram of the technique online, but basically you take four strands laid out from left to right, take hold of the rightmost strand, and make two half-hitches over it with each of the three other strands in turn from right to left. So if the strands are A B C D, you take strand D and tie two half-hitches around it using strand C, then move to the left and tie two more around strand D using strand B, then move to the left again and finish by tying two half-hitches around this same strand D using strand A. You have now 'carried' strand D diagonally across so that it sticks out to the left-hand side, and the ends are laid out as D A B C.
Then you take the new rightmost strand, strand C, and repeat the process, knotting two half-hitches over it first with strand B, then with strand A, and finally with strand D, which is currently located to the left of strand A. The ends now run C D A B, with strand C having been carried all the way across from right to left.
You then proceed by knotting from right to left around strand B and finally around strand A, at which point everything is back to the initial order and you can repeat the process. Once you've completed a single repeat, it's pretty easy to see how the pattern forms itself and you can lay it out across your knee and maintain the progression by eye (I did a complete cord in the process of watching several TV episodes). The only thing you need to keep an eye out for is to make sure that you remember to pick up and hold the right-hand strand at the start of each new 'row', and knot everything else around it, rather than carelessly starting off by knotting the righthand strand itself around the strand to its left, as you do at every other stage!
To get a wider ribbon, you simply use each strand to tie more than two half-hitches. The end result is a flat but flexible and quite springy cord - the book recommends using this technique for a belt which needs to be knotted (e.g. a dressing-gown belt), and it proved ideal for threading through and tying in a bow.
(N.B. Thanks for the offer, but I don't have the hardware/software for video chat -- I'm more diagram/instruction minded anyway. I'm one of those people who actually sits down and reads the rules *first* before starting to play a game, and reads the manual to see what a program is supposed to be able to do before attempting to use it in anger!)
ways of avoiding the warp threads twisting (though not worth using on a zig-zag as that should be self-correcting)
Yes, that was why I was going for zigzag -- the book said that it was easier for a beginner just to keep twisting the tablets until the threads were wound too tightly to use, then undo and untwist them, but that wasn't my definition of 'easier', so I attempted a pattern that was supposed to untwist itself!
no subject
I can't find any diagram of the technique online, but basically you take four strands laid out from left to right, take hold of the rightmost strand, and make two half-hitches over it with each of the three other strands in turn from right to left. So if the strands are A B C D, you take strand D and tie two half-hitches around it using strand C, then move to the left and tie two more around strand D using strand B, then move to the left again and finish by tying two half-hitches around this same strand D using strand A.
You have now 'carried' strand D diagonally across so that it sticks out to the left-hand side, and the ends are laid out as D A B C.
Then you take the new rightmost strand, strand C, and repeat the process, knotting two half-hitches over it first with strand B, then with strand A, and finally with strand D, which is currently located to the left of strand A. The ends now run C D A B, with strand C having been carried all the way across from right to left.
You then proceed by knotting from right to left around strand B and finally around strand A, at which point everything is back to the initial order and you can repeat the process. Once you've completed a single repeat, it's pretty easy to see how the pattern forms itself and you can lay it out across your knee and maintain the progression by eye (I did a complete cord in the process of watching several TV episodes). The only thing you need to keep an eye out for is to make sure that you remember to pick up and hold the right-hand strand at the start of each new 'row', and knot everything else around it, rather than carelessly starting off by knotting the righthand strand itself around the strand to its left, as you do at every other stage!
To get a wider ribbon, you simply use each strand to tie more than two half-hitches. The end result is a flat but flexible and quite springy cord - the book recommends using this technique for a belt which needs to be knotted (e.g. a dressing-gown belt), and it proved ideal for threading through and tying in a bow.
(N.B. Thanks for the offer, but I don't have the hardware/software for video chat -- I'm more diagram/instruction minded anyway. I'm one of those people who actually sits down and reads the rules *first* before starting to play a game, and reads the manual to see what a program is supposed to be able to do before attempting to use it in anger!)
Yes, that was why I was going for zigzag -- the book said that it was easier for a beginner just to keep twisting the tablets until the threads were wound too tightly to use, then undo and untwist them, but that wasn't my definition of 'easier', so I attempted a pattern that was supposed to untwist itself!