Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Pattern charts and photos of many other flat braid patterns and motifs are on my website: loopbraider.com/2017/10/22/pickup-3 Hit "show more" below this for a timeline/ video table of contents, so you can click to go to whichever part of the video you want to see.
This video was made to accompany the 3rd web-post in my series on Pick-up patterning in loop braids.
The website has many more motifs and patterns for flat braids.
0:01 Showing the samples of these two braids in my notebook.
1:09 Problem of 'flat' braids sometimes turning out compressed into a narrower, thicker shape I call "3/4-flat".
1:42 Showing the braid patterns I will be demoing: 2 versions of "Contrast V's".
2:04 Loop set-up and suspending the loop bundle onto a rigid bar.
3:25 Making sure all the loops will be the same length even after the big knot is tied.
4:05 Tying a temporary knot near the top of braid, leaving a long section for a braided fringe of mini-braids (will braid those later, after rest of braid is done)
4:40 Putting a header cord below the temporary knot, - that header cord is temporary, too - ONLY for braiding the divided section. If you braid the FLAT braid from a header cord, it might not turn out fully flat!
5:07 Placing the header cord onto the bar of the C-clamp
5:35 Placing loops onto fingers with DARK shanks all up for "All-Dark-Up" divided braid pattern
6:33 Starting divided braiding to make a braided loop at the top of the braid - later will hang the the loop bundle from that loop while braiding the flat part of the braid.
Divided 7-loop braiding taught here: loopbraider.com/2012/01/17/7-loop-square-braid
7:40 Showing a shower-curtain ring - handy for suspending the top of the braid.
7:55 Taking divided braid's header cord off the clamp, to hang over the C-clamp bar, or the shower-curtain ring. Keeps braid stable, helps flat braids form 'fully flat' rather than '3/4-flat'.
9:38 Showing the charts and braid samples for the two patterns: 7-row Contrast V's (will be automatic braiding moves in a 7-loop braid), and 4-row Contrast V's - similar but more symmetrical pattern.
12:03 Starting flat braiding, using the 7-row chart to segue from All-Dark-Up (the pattern of the divided loop) into 7-row Contrast V's.
14:32 Tightening technique for helping flat braids form fully-flat. (This does not show clearly in the video. From above you would see that after the 2nd transfer when the right hand has only 3 loops, I pull those right loops almost all the way forward and away from me, while holding the left loops firmly toward me.)
15:28 Two ways to "turn twice" - very important for this braid as the automatic moves will be 'turn twice' on the left in every row, once the loops are in pattern.
16:20 How to figure out what row you are on if you lose your place.
18:55 After 7 rows (or even before) of pick-up, all my loops are now in position for the new pattern, and I can start doing linked flat braid moves - all left loops turned twice - for the rest of the pattern. "Automatic" moves = using the same braiding moves in every row.
22:00 Now doing pickup again to bring loops back to All-Dark-Up as a separation between the 2 Contrast Stripe variations.
24:29 Starting to braid a pickup pattern: 4-row Contrast V's (a pick-up pattern in a 7-loop braid)
25:39 Again how to check what row you're on by looking at the loops, here looking all the way onto the loops of the other hand.
27:28 Showing the regular alternation of the 2 types of turns in this pickup pattern - 2 rows of single turns, followed by 2 rows of double turns.
I ran out of time on this video before I could show how the braid unfolds/ opens out from a folded 'square braid'-like shape to a fully-flat shape. See photos of this near the bottom of the footnotes of my website tutorial. loopbraider.com/2017/10/22/pickup-3
Thanks for watching!
~loopbraider
loopbraider.com
Pattern charts and photos of many other flat braid patterns and motifs are on my website: loopbraider.com/2017/10/22/pickup-3 Hit "show more" below this for a timeline/ video table of contents, so you can click to go to whichever part of the video you want to see.
This video was made to accompany the 3rd web-post in my series on Pick-up patterning in loop braids.
The website has many more motifs and patterns for flat braids.
0:01 Showing the samples of these two braids in my notebook.
1:09 Problem of 'flat' braids sometimes turning out compressed into a narrower, thicker shape I call "3/4-flat".
1:42 Showing the braid patterns I will be demoing: 2 versions of "Contrast V's".
2:04 Loop set-up and suspending the loop bundle onto a rigid bar.
3:25 Making sure all the loops will be the same length even after the big knot is tied.
4:05 Tying a temporary knot near the top of braid, leaving a long section for a braided fringe of mini-braids (will braid those later, after rest of braid is done)
4:40 Putting a header cord below the temporary knot, - that header cord is temporary, too - ONLY for braiding the divided section. If you braid the FLAT braid from a header cord, it might not turn out fully flat!
5:07 Placing the header cord onto the bar of the C-clamp
5:35 Placing loops onto fingers with DARK shanks all up for "All-Dark-Up" divided braid pattern
6:33 Starting divided braiding to make a braided loop at the top of the braid - later will hang the the loop bundle from that loop while braiding the flat part of the braid.
Divided 7-loop braiding taught here: loopbraider.com/2012/01/17/7-loop-square-braid
7:40 Showing a shower-curtain ring - handy for suspending the top of the braid.
7:55 Taking divided braid's header cord off the clamp, to hang over the C-clamp bar, or the shower-curtain ring. Keeps braid stable, helps flat braids form 'fully flat' rather than '3/4-flat'.
9:38 Showing the charts and braid samples for the two patterns: 7-row Contrast V's (will be automatic braiding moves in a 7-loop braid), and 4-row Contrast V's - similar but more symmetrical pattern.
12:03 Starting flat braiding, using the 7-row chart to segue from All-Dark-Up (the pattern of the divided loop) into 7-row Contrast V's.
14:32 Tightening technique for helping flat braids form fully-flat. (This does not show clearly in the video. From above you would see that after the 2nd transfer when the right hand has only 3 loops, I pull those right loops almost all the way forward and away from me, while holding the left loops firmly toward me.)
15:28 Two ways to "turn twice" - very important for this braid as the automatic moves will be 'turn twice' on the left in every row, once the loops are in pattern.
16:20 How to figure out what row you are on if you lose your place.
18:55 After 7 rows (or even before) of pick-up, all my loops are now in position for the new pattern, and I can start doing linked flat braid moves - all left loops turned twice - for the rest of the pattern. "Automatic" moves = using the same braiding moves in every row.
22:00 Now doing pickup again to bring loops back to All-Dark-Up as a separation between the 2 Contrast Stripe variations.
24:29 Starting to braid a pickup pattern: 4-row Contrast V's (a pick-up pattern in a 7-loop braid)
25:39 Again how to check what row you're on by looking at the loops, here looking all the way onto the loops of the other hand.
27:28 Showing the regular alternation of the 2 types of turns in this pickup pattern - 2 rows of single turns, followed by 2 rows of double turns.
I ran out of time on this video before I could show how the braid unfolds/ opens out from a folded 'square braid'-like shape to a fully-flat shape. See photos of this near the bottom of the footnotes of my website tutorial. loopbraider.com/2017/10/22/pickup-3
Thanks for watching!
~loopbraider
loopbraider.com
