I wanted a good, sturdy piece of cord for a project. Found nothing in the cupboards. Thought of going to a hobby store and maybe buying a narrow strip of leather, but then remembered that I have a booklet with instructions for plaiting or weaving cords and ribbons, based on traditional Estonian techniques. I bought it a whole bunch of years ago because it looked like fun, but never did more than look at it. Maybe I could try one of those.

This is a kind of plait that yields a cord with a square cross-section. In fact now that I look at the photo, I see that this is one of the sides, not the front, because the colour pattern is not symmetrical. The other faces look very similar, and would be indistinguishable if it wasn’t for the colours.

I pinned the cord to a cushion and started plaiting.

I was going to just make a start and then do a little bit every day, but enjoyed it so much that I kept going, and going, and going. All the way around the cushion.

I didn’t stop until I ran out of yarn. (Järbo Tencel Raggi sock yarn, leftovers from gift socks I made earlier this year.) Now I have a length of really good cord. It feels very nice in my hands – sturdy, slightly elastic, neither slippery nor scratchy.

The book is 17 kirrivat paela by Lüüli Kiik.