Manly Knitting IV: The Re-Return

I found another way of weaving a belt with holes, so I'm calling this the Derweesh Belt Mark II. Or something. Anyway, this one is faster to weave and has much better holes, though in my opinion it doesn't look as good, though perhaps when I've developed a little more consistancy it will look better. Right now I'm working with four spine strands, I believe it will work with as few as two, though it might be necessary to change the pattern for more than four.


1. Getting Started
As usual measure off the length and anchor the cords.

In this case I'm using four spinal cords. Notice how the middle loop is behind the two central spinal cords, and the outer spinal cords go into the belt from above.

2. The Crossover
Choose one of the weaving cords. This will be the leading side; always start each row with the cord on this side. If you switch leading sides halfway the pattern will be inconsistent. Take the cord and pass it over two of the spine strand and behind the other two.

Repeat with the other weaving cord.

Pull tight.

3. Looping Back
Take the cord on the leading side and pass it over two spinal cords, the back behind them.

Repeat on the other side.

Pull tight.

4. Infinite Loop
Keep going, repeating crossover and loop back rows as desired.

The final result looks something like this:

As you can see it has large holes along the middle. Because of the how the crossover step weaves through the centre, these holes aren't pulled tight the way they are in the "Mark I". Also I think the crossover strands are more sturdy for a belt. As you can see, the belt is a lot narrower than the Mark I, but it actually seems to be thicker for some reason. Personally I don't think it looks as good though.

In this case I didn't finish the belt because it's too narrow for the buckle. I'll have to keep an eye out for a smaller buckle or experiment with more spine strands. I had a quick go with the same pattern with two spine strands:

As you can see it worked about as well and is noticeably narrower. This might make a good watch strap if you can find a good buckle. Here's a slightly different pattern with six spine strands:

Note that this buckle is from a women's belt and is smaller than the average male belt buckle, so this six strand design would work reasonably well for a man's belt.