I did not have any problems with plaits when I first started BL. I think its
because I had plenty of practice (years) plaiting my daughter's hair <g>!
( We use 4 strands to plait hair here as well as 3)
When I was a kid, there was a girl in my primary school who knew how to plait hair with 4 strands (all of us knew how to do it with 3). She must have been the most bribed child ever -- we gave her our lunch deserts and/or lunch money to have our hair "plaited in 4", and there was always a long waiting line... :)
Some 8 yrs later, when I was 17 and in my last year of highschool, I thought I'd try to figure out just how that was done and managed (with 4 pieces of string in front of me; I don't think I'd be able to plait it "blind", in the back of my head, even now). So, next natural step was: "could it be done with 5 or 6, or more"? It could, so, "could it be done with more than one colour?" It could.... A year later, my first year of U, *I* was the most bribed one, making bracelets and belts, in colours of recipient's choice, for anyone who had something interesting to trade for them, made in a craft I had no idea of. Got some lovely vests (crocheted) and scarves and (knitted), and even a pair of (crocheted) "hot pants" (anyone remember those? <g>) in exchange... Went up to as many as 20 strands for some of those (all tied to a chair back to start, the chair being moved farther and farther away from my seat as I progressed).
Always thought I was getting the better of those exchanges by far, but "my product" was unique, while most girls could knit and crochet (except me <g>; I didn't learn to crochet until I came here). Time passed and, at 40, I started teaching myself (from books) how to make bobbin lace. I was totally stunned to discover that "plaiting in 4" was an "old hat", and that even making a 20-strand ribbon was nothing new...
I guess, plaiting was the first wheel I've re-invented (but there were *many* more to come later on <g>), and I was somewhat chagrined to discover that I didn't even re-invent it "right"; it's ever soooo much easier to keep track of 20 strands when they're wound on bobbins and pinned to a pricking, than when they're "independent" and suspended in the air between the chair back and me...
But, no, I had no trouble with plaits, either :)
Lovely to have you back on Arachne, Sulochona; I'll respond to your private message tomorrow, it being after 1AM here already.
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Tamara P Duvall
Lexington, Virginia, USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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