First Five-pointed Star

This is one of my most treasured figures. Use a long, thin string.

• Ten Men Loom.
• Katilluik the lower index loops.
• Rotate the double lower index loop a full turn towards you (again, you will need to temporarily store the upper index loop on your middle finger).
• Rotate the upper index loop (and only the upper index loop) a full turn away from you. From now on treat the double lower index loop as if it were a single loop.
• opening 2 (thumb picks up lower near index string; finish the weave and reset the loom).
• Aa (pass thumb up through the lower index loop and return with the near little finger string; finish the weave and reset the loom).
• opening 3 (thumb picks up far lower index string under near lower index string; finish the weave and reset the loom). You now have an extensively altered loom.

Now do the following weaves: a, a, Va, extend.

The V-Universe

One of the most interesting weaves in my notebook is the V-Universe-a  weave (Va), which i use when making ‘Jaguar’. Although i’ve already presented it in my list of Universe moves, here is a more detailed description of  the Va weave. First set up the Ten Men loom then proceed as follows:

• Pass each thumb under both index loops and pick up the near little finger string.
• With each middle finger pick up the far little finger string.
• Pass each thumb over the lower near index string and down through thelower index loop, then pick up the short far middle finger string and return through the lower index loop and the original thumb loop, which will slip off (the original thumb loop is the one you created by picking up the near little finger string).
• Again pass each thumb over the lower near index string and down through the lower index loop, then up into the middle finger loop. Transfer the middle finger loop to the thumb and return through the lower index loop. You now have two loops on each thumb (fig. 38).

•  Now you can finish the weave as you would any other weave: With each thumb pick up the upper near index string, then navaho the thumb loops (double lower loop over upper single loop).

• Now you can either reset the loom by releasing the upper index loops and transferring the thumb loops to the indices, or proceed directly to the extension phase if you wish to end with Va.

To reveal the Five-Pointed Star we use an altered extension.

With each ring finger hook down the single transverse string that  crosses the center of the figure (the string created by the lower index loop katilluik move), then catch this string on its backs by rotating the ring finger away and up. The central transverse string becomes a new upper frame string. Extend with palms facing away from you. In summary,
the sequence for this figure is:

Ten Men Loom: katilluik bottom index loops, lower index loops –2/2, upper index loops +2/2, opening 2, Aa, opening 3, a, a, Va, extend, lift central transverse with ring fingers.