Fascinating. The only braid that I learned how to do was 'trick braid ' in Spain about 50 years ago (late hippie days). Someone bought a leather bracelet made of it and we were intrigued how it could possibly be made. But finally we worked out that after tightly braiding the three strands, one end could be reversed to preserve the other end and then spread out the weave. It worked well on a paired triple braid too, as it allows the leather to lay more flat.
My Nan was the first person to teach me wool crafts too! I can still remember her little rhyme for knitting now...needle in, cotton round, make a loop, slip it off. :)
@@WyrdKindred we are so blessed to have learned from the old ones ,as it should be. I am now teaching my 3 grands all I can , I lost mine right after she thought me knitting & how to crochet a granny square. I have kept the skills & enjoyed making so many things for 50 years!
Thanks for this calm and thoughtful presentation of the technique. I definitely want to try loop braiding soon. Not sure, if I understood the set up completely but from knitting I know that it helps a lot to just try it out.
As long as you have three loops of equal length you should be fine. It isn't as tricky as it seems once you get the hang of it. :) if there is anything specific I can help with please do ask. :)
Thanks for the tutorial and also for your experimental solution from the LHE! I came back from a medieval market yesterday. After working on my kit for more than a week, researching and chosing materials very thoughtfully. I met few nice people but also those who told me that using metal needles is not accurate, that a tunic is bad because a square of fabric on the chest is three cm too far up, that my chosen warm brown fabric that I love so much is not colorful enough, that I have to use linen thread and never wool to embroider linen and so on. In other words I heard basically that i need to look like everyone else to be authentic. It made me kind of sad because of course I know that wool shrinks and linen does not. I just could not get linen thread that was usable for embroidery. I saw metal needles are shown in a Danish museum so I used them and I thought re-enactment is for recreating the bits of history that are not found in the ground. I am sure vikings cut their clothes to fit their body and chose colours they loved just like me. I still like how the brown makes my embroidery shine even more. And I am sure they have been incredibly creative with arts and crafts and that they often had to use the material that was just there or affordable. So thank you for showing these tiny hints and tips from the LHE. ❤I hope I will find nice people like you some day with whom I can experience the living history in a friendly environment. I am not being that sad any more after hearing that real re-enacters experiment like this.
I am very lucky to have a fantastic authenticity team to consult, so I generally chat with them if I have an idea and get their input. I'm training to be one of them at the moment, so many things in re-enactment are matters of nuance and you will find differing opinions everywhere. We do have to fill in the blanks as best we can sometimes, and adjust to new evidence and interpretations as we learn more. You will find some folks with very fixed ideas that don't actually match up with what we have in the archeology. I'm always learning and it's wonderful! Metal needles are absolutely a thing, usually bronze or Iron, wood and bone are also evidenced. No modern steel but I sew with a modern one at home because its easier, and in the lhe for fine work sometimes as we just can't get needles that fine in bronze or Iron these days, and I have my display needles if anyone asks about the ones vikings actually used. In terms of your kit, there are some things that we know for sure they did or did not do, and it's worth sticking to that when you can, but colour choices were personal then as well as now, I love a good brown, I have a walnut tree so it's very handy, lol No one should be critiquing your outfit unless you ask them to, or you are at an event where there are authenticity rules in effect for all participants that you know about in advance. Our society is great at supporting it's members to make great authentic kit that they love to wear, and I hope these videos will help more people to get making!
@@WyrdKindred Thank you for answering in detail ❤️ This is so encouraging, honestly. I really sticked to what I could research from museum exhibitions and the books you mentioned in your videos. So maybe the outcome is not that bad. I have access to a big walnut tree at my friend's home, too. Maybe I will try to make a self dyed dress next time that could be fun. Please go on with these lovely videos. I will keep watching and working along. Have a nice day!
You too! Honestly, Just keep making, you learn so much as you go, I look back at my first things and see lots I would do differently, but also lots that was good too, for my knowledge level at the time!
I can't recall any specific 3 or 4 ply yarns at the moment, I've just recieved the more detailed book on the Greenland finds and so far I've only seen mention of two ply, but I'm not very far in yet! I see no reason they wouldn't have done that if the particular material had needed the extra thickness, but 2 ply definalty seems more commen for braids on textiles from what I have read so far. It may be used for Nalbinding but I haven't done a great deal of reading about that yet. If I find any more helpful Info I will post it in the community tab. :)
Thank you for the tutorial. I was wondering that instead of connecting the the two parts of the braid the way you do it, is it not possible to just make the length you want, and then make a knot in the middle? Then you will only have the knots in one of the ends when braiding. I hope you can understand what I mean.
Yes you could! I started making these with short pieces of wool in set lengths so had to do the join and that way stuck in my brainas 'the way', but you are absolutely right, if you have long lengths to start with just knotting it would work in the same way.
Not a silly question at all! Personally I use them for drawstrings, on kit bags, or trousers, and drawstings for pouches hung from a belt. Done in fine thread they can be used for ties to close shirts as well, although I tend to use a different technique for those as they are shorter and easier to braid using other techniques. This braid can also be used along the very edges of hems to help prevent wear, like around necklines and cuffs. If you were using rougher fibres, you could also make a strong string from this method for general use.
@@WyrdKindred I do a lot of crocheting, so I’m thinking I can incorporate this into some projects. Maybe even sewing in, sort of as a binder - as a more interesting edge. I’m sure I’ll come up with more ideas. These are pretty. Thank you!
You absolutely could. There are regular loops in the braid you could start crocheting into. I must confess I have never managed to learn to crochet so I can't offer any advice, would love to see what you do with the braids!
Hmmm, I will give it some thought, it's tricky as the braid gets shorter so you can't easily use a peg board or something like that for this technique. Best bet would probably be to nab a friend, this technique was done between two people for the complex versions with more than 7 loops anyway.
Maybe using toes to hold and instead of pulling out to the sides go up? Just a thought, I hope you find a way! Also, maybe short lengths and move the knot as you go?
Fascinating.
The only braid that I learned how to do was 'trick braid ' in Spain about 50 years ago (late hippie days). Someone bought a leather bracelet made of it and we were intrigued how it could possibly be made. But finally we worked out that after tightly braiding the three strands, one end could be reversed to preserve the other end and then spread out the weave. It worked well on a paired triple braid too, as it allows the leather to lay more flat.
I love fingerloop braiding, I've made just as many (if not more) fingerloop braids for mundane reasons than for historical. It's super handy!
My grandmother showed me how to do this when I was about 9. She taught me so many wool crafts .
My Nan was the first person to teach me wool crafts too! I can still remember her little rhyme for knitting now...needle in, cotton round, make a loop, slip it off. :)
@@WyrdKindred we are so blessed to have learned from the old ones ,as it should be. I am now teaching my 3 grands all I can , I lost mine right after she thought me knitting & how to crochet a granny square. I have kept the skills & enjoyed making so many things for 50 years!
Thanks for this calm and thoughtful presentation of the technique. I definitely want to try loop braiding soon. Not sure, if I understood the set up completely but from knitting I know that it helps a lot to just try it out.
As long as you have three loops of equal length you should be fine. It isn't as tricky as it seems once you get the hang of it. :) if there is anything specific I can help with please do ask. :)
Thank you 😊 so very much. Easy to follow so helpful 😊
You are so welcome!❤️
So glad I found your channel!! Thank you for teaching this technique and making it possible to follow along!! A fan from Canada 🇨🇦
You are so welcome! Whereabouts in Canada are you, remember it very fondly from a visit many years ago. :)
@@WyrdKindred I’m about 30 min. north of Toronto in a small town called Caledon East
Thanks for explaining this!
You are very welcome. :)
Thank you . Great tutorial.
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Thanks for the tutorial and also for your experimental solution from the LHE! I came back from a medieval market yesterday. After working on my kit for more than a week, researching and chosing materials very thoughtfully. I met few nice people but also those who told me that using metal needles is not accurate, that a tunic is bad because a square of fabric on the chest is three cm too far up, that my chosen warm brown fabric that I love so much is not colorful enough, that I have to use linen thread and never wool to embroider linen and so on. In other words I heard basically that i need to look like everyone else to be authentic. It made me kind of sad because of course I know that wool shrinks and linen does not. I just could not get linen thread that was usable for embroidery. I saw metal needles are shown in a Danish museum so I used them and I thought re-enactment is for recreating the bits of history that are not found in the ground. I am sure vikings cut their clothes to fit their body and chose colours they loved just like me. I still like how the brown makes my embroidery shine even more. And I am sure they have been incredibly creative with arts and crafts and that they often had to use the material that was just there or affordable. So thank you for showing these tiny hints and tips from the LHE. ❤I hope I will find nice people like you some day with whom I can experience the living history in a friendly environment. I am not being that sad any more after hearing that real re-enacters experiment like this.
I am very lucky to have a fantastic authenticity team to consult, so I generally chat with them if I have an idea and get their input. I'm training to be one of them at the moment, so many things in re-enactment are matters of nuance and you will find differing opinions everywhere. We do have to fill in the blanks as best we can sometimes, and adjust to new evidence and interpretations as we learn more. You will find some folks with very fixed ideas that don't actually match up with what we have in the archeology. I'm always learning and it's wonderful!
Metal needles are absolutely a thing, usually bronze or Iron, wood and bone are also evidenced. No modern steel but I sew with a modern one at home because its easier, and in the lhe for fine work sometimes as we just can't get needles that fine in bronze or Iron these days, and I have my display needles if anyone asks about the ones vikings actually used.
In terms of your kit, there are some things that we know for sure they did or did not do, and it's worth sticking to that when you can, but colour choices were personal then as well as now, I love a good brown, I have a walnut tree so it's very handy, lol
No one should be critiquing your outfit unless you ask them to, or you are at an event where there are authenticity rules in effect for all participants that you know about in advance. Our society is great at supporting it's members to make great authentic kit that they love to wear, and I hope these videos will help more people to get making!
@@WyrdKindred Thank you for answering in detail ❤️ This is so encouraging, honestly. I really sticked to what I could research from museum exhibitions and the books you mentioned in your videos. So maybe the outcome is not that bad.
I have access to a big walnut tree at my friend's home, too. Maybe I will try to make a self dyed dress next time that could be fun.
Please go on with these lovely videos. I will keep watching and working along. Have a nice day!
You too! Honestly, Just keep making, you learn so much as you go, I look back at my first things and see lots I would do differently, but also lots that was good too, for my knowledge level at the time!
You present these tutorials so well
& now you've got over 200 subscribers
Happy Dance at 500?
x
Absolutely!
Do you believe 3- or 4-ply yarn was used in the 1000-1300. Do you have any sources on that?
I can't recall any specific 3 or 4 ply yarns at the moment, I've just recieved the more detailed book on the Greenland finds and so far I've only seen mention of two ply, but I'm not very far in yet! I see no reason they wouldn't have done that if the particular material had needed the extra thickness, but 2 ply definalty seems more commen for braids on textiles from what I have read so far. It may be used for Nalbinding but I haven't done a great deal of reading about that yet. If I find any more helpful Info I will post it in the community tab. :)
Thank you for the tutorial. I was wondering that instead of connecting the the two parts of the braid the way you do it, is it not possible to just make the length you want, and then make a knot in the middle? Then you will only have the knots in one of the ends when braiding. I hope you can understand what I mean.
Yes you could! I started making these with short pieces of wool in set lengths so had to do the join and that way stuck in my brainas 'the way', but you are absolutely right, if you have long lengths to start with just knotting it would work in the same way.
Silly question: what do you use them for?
Not a silly question at all! Personally I use them for drawstrings, on kit bags, or trousers, and drawstings for pouches hung from a belt. Done in fine thread they can be used for ties to close shirts as well, although I tend to use a different technique for those as they are shorter and easier to braid using other techniques. This braid can also be used along the very edges of hems to help prevent wear, like around necklines and cuffs. If you were using rougher fibres, you could also make a strong string from this method for general use.
@@WyrdKindred Thank you so much!
@@WyrdKindred I do a lot of crocheting, so I’m thinking I can incorporate this into some projects. Maybe even sewing in, sort of as a binder - as a more interesting edge. I’m sure I’ll come up with more ideas. These are pretty. Thank you!
You absolutely could. There are regular loops in the braid you could start crocheting into. I must confess I have never managed to learn to crochet so I can't offer any advice, would love to see what you do with the braids!
I only have one hand. I will figure out. If you know tricks and tips for how to do with one hand.
Hmmm, I will give it some thought, it's tricky as the braid gets shorter so you can't easily use a peg board or something like that for this technique. Best bet would probably be to nab a friend, this technique was done between two people for the complex versions with more than 7 loops anyway.
Maybe using toes to hold and instead of pulling out to the sides go up? Just a thought, I hope you find a way! Also, maybe short lengths and move the knot as you go?