This Is Not Food
Submitted by IronRose

Speedweaving This Is Not Food

This Is Not Food is a simple spiral weave that keeps its shape without having to twist it. It's great for hanging structures like earrings or mobiles. The slow way to weave this pattern is to open and close the small rings around the intersection of the two larger rings. To speedweave this pattern, the small rings are left closed and the only the large rings are opened. Two speedweaving techniques are the threading method and the flip method. The threading method directly threads the large rings through the small rings in the correct orientation. The flip method employs a simpler way of joining the large and small rings but requires the reopening of a large ring. My experience is that the threading method is faster for larger rings and the flip method faster for smaller rings.

Threading Method

1. Take a large ring and slip on two small closed rings, then close this large ring:

   

2. Slip another large ring through the bottom of one of the closed rings while holding the small ring horizontal:

   

3. Twist the open large ring so it fits thru the closed large ring:

   

4. Slide the open large ring through the final small ring from the top (you'll need to hold it near horizontal again):

   

5. Place two small closed rings on the large open ring. Close the large ring:

   

6. Repeat at step 2.

Flip Method

1. Take a large ring and slip on two small closed rings, then close this large ring:

   

2. Slip another large ring through the two small rings and slide it up and over the closed large ring:

   Press the large ring opening against the other large ring and rotate your wrist. This keeps the small rings from falling off as you pass the open large ring through the first large ring. With a little bit of practice, you can do this operation very quickly.

3. Close the large ring and give it a half turn spin (so the cut in the ring is at the top of the ring versus the bottom--this makes things a bit quicker later):

   

4. Flip the large ring you just added.

   Separate the two small rings and pull the large ring up and through--flipping the large ring:

5. Reopen the large ring and slip on two more small closed rings (the ring cut should be conveniently placed based on the little spin you did in step 3). Close the large ring:

   

6. Repeat at step 2.

   Remember that the direction you thread each new large ring through the large ring above it will be opposite the direction of the final weave twist. To reduce confusion, always thread the new large ring so it matches the orientation of the large ring two above it (3rd ring matches the 1st, 4th matches the 2nd, etc.).

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