Snartemo II and a 7-strand fingerloop braid sampler

Here's a little one-color 7-strand braid I was playing around with.  I tried different things along the length (with a few repeats).  Although the photo is pretty crappy, I will list the variations I tried.  Most were unorthodox braids.  I was working V-fell, where the pinky finger is the operator finger and the index finger of the other hand holds the traveling loop.  I mostly picked up the traveling loop from above, which reversed the loop (and not from below, which reverses it with the opposite twist).

I did the square/round braid when I wanted to separate braids that I thought would be too similar.  I also did a bit of the braid where you don't go through any loops at all, kind of a pigtail braid.  Then there were the unorthodox skip-a-loop-or-two braids.  Skip the loop next to the index finger.  Only go through the loop next to the index finger.  Go through the two loops next to the index finger.  Go through the pinky and middle finger but skip the ring finger.  Etc.

It was interesting seeing the slight differences.  In general, the more loops one goes through, the wider/looser/flatter the braid.  Sometimes there's a small groove down the center of the braid, while other times the middle stands high.  The depth of the groove on the backside was sometimes a bit deeper/shallower, too.

None are bad braids.  The two Crickmore variations (triangular and D-shaped) are distinctive from each other and from the other ones I tried.  Ditto for the Guajiro braids, though i don't think I did the version where you skip the pinky and middle finger but go through the ring finger loop.

I also warped up a new tablet-woven band.  This is Snartemo II, though of course I'm working in cotton (the usual #10 crochet thread for the warp and finer crochet thread for the weft) rather than wool, as the original probably was.  I also decided to weave it in blue and white rather than red and yellow.

I'm using the chart/description from Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanen, because of course I am.  Their version has 17 tablets.  The center 12 tablets are the pattern tablets, and they are 2-threaded.  There are 3 edge tablets on the left and 2 on the right, all 4-threaded.  The 3 tablets of the left edge are woven with a tubular selvedge.  The pattern is pretty simple -- 26F/26B, not counting the edges which are always turned forward.

Here is a description of how they determined that this was the probable technique used for the band.  They worked through some other possibilities and showed that the other ones probably weren't the techniques used and that this version, in their opinion, most closely matched the archaeological specimen.

Anyway, it's fun, easy, fast, etc.  I'm enjoying it so far.  The pic is of one of the first repeats.