There are actually ten simple weaves in my system. In addition to the a, a’, b, b’, c, and c’ weaves, i also introduce my students to the d, d’, e, and e’ weaves. The reason for these is as follows: Note that one can think of the b weave as accomplishing a +1/2 rotation of the little finger loop (i.e., if you release the little finger loop after picking up the far little finger string under the near little finger string, the net result is a half rotation of the loop away from you). Likewise, one can think of the c weave as accomplishing a –1/2 rotation of the little finger loop. To accomplish a –2/2 rotation (i.e., a full rotation of the loop towards you), a d weave is required, and for a +2/2 rotation, an e weave. To do these weaves, i use my middle finger and my thumb to wrap the near little finger string around the far little finger string before catching the near little finger string on the back of each thumb. The two
weaves are accomplished as follows:
d (pass each thumb under both index loops, then use it to push the near little finger string under the far little finger string; pass your middle finger over the far little finger string and catch on its back the string being pushed by the thumb; now pass each thumb under both index loops again and insert it, from below, into the middle finger loop; transfer the middle finger loop to the thumb and return under both index loops)
e (with the tip of each middle finger push the near little finger string away from you, over the far little finger string, then down so that the string lies below the far little finger string; now pass each thumb under both index loops, then under the string being pushed down by
each middle finger tip, and catch this string on the back of the thumb, returning under both index loops) The two-weave pattern d a is shown in fig. 9. The result of weaving e a is shown in fig. 10.
The inverse weaves are also defined. Note that you may need to do the downflipping artificially, like you do with the c’ weave.
d’ (do d with a downflip)
e’ (do e with a downflip)
SUMMARY OF THE TEN “SIMPLE” WEAVES
a (pick up near little finger string)
b (pick up far little finger string under near little finger string)
c (pick up far little finger string over near little finger string)
d (make near little finger string go under then over far little finger
string, then pick up with thumb)
e (make near little finger string go over then under far little finger
string, then pick up with thumb)
a’ (same as a except the thumb downflips the string)
b’ (do b with downflip)
c’ (do c with downflip)
d’ (do d with downflip)
e’ (do e with downflip)
At this point the students are encouraged to fill in the squares of a 10-by-10 matrix with sketches of each figure:
