Adventures in finger dexterity (9-loop fingerloop braid)

A 9-loop V-fell square fingerlooped braid.  Instructions here, though I didn't really need them since the 9-loop is pretty easily extrapolated from the 7- and 5-loop square braids.  The website does show how to hold one's thumb as well as giving a reminder about which thumb loop is the upper/outside loop (in order to twist or not-twist it properly and in order to transfer the index finger loop to the thumb properly).

I kept dropping loops and my fingers weren't sure they wanted to walk the loops.  Which is all quite normal for a new-to-me braid,  I was definitely starting to get better by the end.

Next time I might do this as a flat braid instead of a square, since the principles are the same.  At this point, making this braid is pretty slow given my current lack of finger dexterity.  I'm sure it'll get better with practice!

Ingrid Crickmore recommended trying the 9-loop square before getting too fast/comfortable with the 7-loop braid, since there are indeed some new finger muscles that have to be encouraged to play along.

Yay.

So... I will continue to play around with all the structures I have practiced so far, along with having some color fun (different color loops, bicolor loops, various forms of loop-switching).  And when I'm in the mood for something new, I will play around with some of the other structures I haven't tried yet such as the Spanish braids and the Grene Dorge braids and unorthodox variations, etc.  Eventually I'll find another person who knows how to do fingerloop braiding and see how the multi-person braids work.

On the whole, now that I've done a 9-loop square braid and found it easy to understand, I feel pretty comfortable with my knowledge and my ability to make a lot of the common fingerlooped braids that have been documented.  I'm no longer a complete noob even if I'm still barely past the beginning of the journey.  There's still so much to learn and to think about.  I am grateful to the people who have written books (and booklets) and put up websites about fingerloop braids.  It's been enormously helpful.

I also have a tablet-weaving band project I'm nearing the end of.  It's very simple but still kind of cute.  It's intended as a gift.  I'll probably add photos later today or in my next post.