7-Strand Braid

This is for Carrie-Anne who asked how to make 7-strand braid. Just cut yourself a piece of cardboard the shape as in the pic below. Make a hole in the middle of it and make eight slits or notches as shown.


Take about a metre of each of seven different yarns. Cotton yarn is probably better but I just used whatever was available. A metre of 7 different yarns should make about 20" of braid. Tie a knot at the end of the seven different yarns held together and put this one side of the hole at the centre of your cardboard disc. Then fix a strand of each of your seven different yarns in seven different slits. That will leave one slit free. The following instructions are if you are right handed and will need to be reversed for lefties. You hold the disc in your left hand and, with your right hand, take the strand that is third to the right of the vacant slit and place it in the vacant slit, repeat this over and over, just taking the third strand to the right of the empty slit and placing it in the vacant slit whilst turning the disc clockwise. At the same time, make sure that you have some amount of tension on your strands so that your braid doesn't end up loose. Voila, you have seven strand braid.