Braids 2012

My commitment to YarnMaker meant I was unable to partcipate in the workshops at Braids 2012, the Braid society conference held in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, but the organiser kindly took a booking from me for the conference dinner and so I was able to pop down to Manchester (less than an hour's drive) and meet old friends - some of whom I have known for years over the internet but not met before in person. It was a super evening and gave me an insight to how much I was missing out on! The workshops sounded fantastic and the opportunities to talk and exchange skills and make friends were greatly enjoyed by everyone.

The next Braids conference will be in 2016 in Seatle, so popping in for dinner won't be an option for me.
Link to Braid Society website, link to Laverne Waddington's blog post about the conference.

One person I met at the dinner was the person I sold my first Marudai on to, when up-grading from this acrylic stand to a wooden replacement, and I recalled that I hadn't got around to posting up photos of the acrylic stand. Although not so nice to work with as wood, it was lovely for photos and good for a beginner as you can see exactly what is happening.

These can be bought in the UK from The Carey Company, Jacqui Carey who runs this business with her husband is also author of the most useful beginners book I have found - Japanese Braiding: The Craft of Kumihimo, I couldn't see this on her website, so here is a link to Amazon UK. 

 My new Marudai was second hand, found on eBay with 16x 100g weights. The maker was Leanda, no longer trading, but Carey Company also sell wooden Marudai, and so does Michael Williams.

Here are a few simple braids -