hey guys
in this video I'm gonna be showing you
how to do a crazy project it's called
the saxon braid a saxon braid is this
it's basically one two three four five
six six cables that are all weaving and
braided in and out of each other but
it's got a nice little pattern saxon
braid can get very confusing very
quickly just because you're having to
manage a ton of different cables at once
and sometimes they're going over
sometimes they're going under and you
can easily very quickly get lost when i
am making a saxon braid i have a pretty
simple system that i like to use
that helps me keep track of everything
so if you actually look at a saxon braid
it's the only thing that it's made up of
are a series of X's stacked on top of
each other so the first row of X's we
have there's gonna be three x's one two
three and then on top of that row of x's
you've got just two x's then on top of
those two x's you'll have just one X
right in the middle and then once you're
past that part you're gonna have two x's
and then on top of those two x's you're
gonna have three x's and so basically
what you're doing is you're following a
pattern of 3 2 1 and then 2 3 and then 2
1 so 3 - 1 2 3 - 1 2 3 - 1 2 3 and
you're basically making a diamond
pattern and all you're doing is lining
up those x's and then the cables are
just navigating using those X's to
navigate hopefully that makes more sense
when I'm explaining it to you but as you
actually start making the pattern
yourself it actually gets pretty easy
all you're going to need to know how to
do is how to cable knit so if you don't
know how to do that definitely check out
the tutorials I have on cable knitting
and make sure you have a cable knitting
needle as well otherwise let's get
started to give you a nice little
play-by-play here's what we're gonna be
doing to start off we're gonna be doing
the first row of
stiches we're gonna be focusing on the
first row of X's so here's an X X and an
X so there's gonna be three X's that
we're gonna be working on first so I'm
just gonna draw them out here's an X X
and an X and to figure out how many
stitches are going to need I'm just
going to think in terms of the X's so
each X is made up of two two by two
cables that are crossing themselves so
it's going to be four stitches so we're
gonna have four stitches for this X four
stitches for this X and four stitches
for that X so you can just write it out
here or four and four and then in
between the X's I'm gonna purl four
stitches as well and that's gonna make
these nice little spaces so it's gonna
be another 4 4 4 & 4 on the end sides as
well so some more fours and 4 and then
I'm just gonna I like to have a little
bit of room just on the ends just
because I don't like the cable going all
the way up to the end so I'm just gonna
make space for two two stitches four of
a nice little border it's just gonna be
a plain little border for the total you
should have 32 stitches I'm just gonna
start knitting and purling right off the
bat so it might be a little tight or
difficult so if you just want to knit
through this first row straight away
just to make it a little easier and give
yourself some wiggle room go ahead and
do that but I'm just gonna start right
off the bat
working off working out this pattern of
knitting and purling so the first one is
gonna be the two for the border so I'm
just gonna purl two stitches and for the
border you can either knit or purl it it
doesn't really matter just because it's
for me it's just gonna be a nice little
border I'm gonna be switching between
knitting and purling for the border to
create kind of a seed stitch but you can
do whatever you want now next up is
going to be four stitches right before
the X the first X that we
so I'm going to purl four stitches so
one my darn is all tangled up here
there's two three and four after that
you're going to be knitting four
stitches for that first X so knit four
and it's always tough for just this very
first row just because there's not much
space it can get kind of tight two and
three and four knits next gonna be
purling four because you want four
pearls between each X so one
two three and four so I just probe for
and now as you can yes probably next up
is going to be the second X so that's
going to be four knit stitches and I'm
just gonna finish up skip ahead and
finish up this row and then I'll get
back to you on the other side but you're
basically just gonna be knitting four
stitches for this X four stitches for
these pearls four knit stitches again
for the last X and then six pearls for
the very end so now you should be able
to see just barely where your units are
and where your pearls are and since this
is going to be the back side we're just
going to knit and purl all the way
through it not having to worry about
changing the stitches or doing any any
cabling or anything like that so just go
ahead and start knitting knitting the
knits and purling the pearls unless you
want to do something special with the
border which is what I'm gonna do so I'm
just gonna purl it just to make a nice
little seed stitch and then for the rest
of everything else you're going to be
doing the same thing you were doing on
the front side so just knitting the
knits and purling the pearls so we're
gonna be knitting four stitches purling
four stitches knitting for four stitches
purling four stitches for the entire row
just doing the opposite of what we did
on the front side so here I'm knitting
and now we're at the first X so I'm
going to purl it
and then I'm going to knit the next four
because they're on the other side of the
X and I'm just going to do that knitting
the knits and purling the pearls for the
rest of this row now we're back on the
front side and now is where we're gonna
start
cable knitting and from here on out
we're gonna be cabling at least once
every single row so for this first part
we're going to actually cross the x's
and here you can really see pretty
clearly where the pearls are and where
the knits are so here's the first four
sets of pearls for the edge and then
here's where the first X is going to be
so we're gonna cable these and there's
four pearls four knits we're gonna cable
these four pearls and then four stitches
that will cable and then four on the end
so let's get started
so I'm just gonna purl up to the first
cable or the first X that we're going to
cable and if you look at the example
that I have here the left two stitches
are going up and over the right two
stitches and then on the far side it's
doing the opposite the right two
stitches are going out and over so to do
that going to slip off the first two
stitches on the right side with the
cable needle and we're going to bring it
to the back and then we're going to knit
these two stitches like we would cable
them so that's going to bring the cable
over and to the right
knit those two and then knit them off of
the cable needle and if you aren't too
sure about cable knitting or you need a
refresher on cable knitting definitely
go check out my cable knitting tutorial
for a little crash course so that first
X has been crossed and now we're gonna
purl those next four stitches that are
after the X
and four and now we're at the second X
and the X in the middle different people
will probably tell you different things
but with Saxon braid the X's in the
middle it's not too important which side
of the cable gets crossed and which side
doesn't so I'm just gonna do the same
thing that I did on the first X I'm
going to bring it to the back and bring
the cable the left side cable over the
right side but you can do either
direction really so I'm going to knit
these two off with two x's down we only
have one left to go so I'm gonna purl
these four stitches
and now at the last X that we have we're
going to make sure that the right
section of the cable goes over and out
to the left so to do that you're going
to slip off these two stitches and
instead of instead of sending them to
the back we're gonna send them to the
front so they go to the left so knit the
back two stitches and now you can knit
off those two stitches from the cable
and now we're at the very end so you can
just purl the last four stitches or six
stitches because of the two that are on
the border like all good cable projects
the back side is always the easiest part
because you're just knitting the knits
and purling the pearls you don't have to
worry about cabling or anything like
that so you can kind of see the X's that
we crossed can't really tell much of a
difference yet so I'm just gonna knit
and purl all the way through to the end
and then I'll meet you back on the front
side now I'm back on the front side and
now you can see the x's the first row of
x's are always going to be a little
choppy just because it's your first row
but there they are one two three x's and
now comes the the braiding part I guess
we're gonna be taking apart these X's
and moving them around and they're gonna
be forming two x's in between here so if
you look at our chart we're gonna be
making another row of X's right on top
of this but it's just gonna be two x's
so there's going to be an X here and an
X here the cables they're gonna be
coming to these X's to form them like
this so that's how you can kind of think
of these X's on the bottom they're gonna
be coming apart forming two x's here in
between them and then for the arms of
the cable over here on these x's these
guys are just gonna go all the way out
and come back in later so that's what
we're going to work on now an easy way
to think about it is you're gonna be
moving each arm of the cable you're
gonna be moving two stitches two spaces
each time you move them anywhere so I'm
just knitting to that first X but we're
gonna be moving this first these first
two stitches on the right side of the
cable gonna be moving on
two stitches to the right so I've got
two pearls here I'm going to slip off
the two pearls and bring them to the
back so we can make the cable go to the
right so two stitches two stitches and
then I'm going to purl off the two
pearls here so that's moving that first
two by two cable
to the right to stitches and now for
this X we're going to be moving that one
to the left two stitches as well slip
off the two stitches move it to the
front because we're going to move it to
the left and then purl two stitches
and I apologize for the marker that is
on my hand I'm a five-year-old and now
I'm going to knit the two stitches off
that cable
so already you can tell what's happening
the X that we had originally is getting
split apart so now there's four stitches
in between the two cables so there's
just the cables getting split up and if
you didn't catch that rewind it and
watch again but we're basically we can
doing that again
for every other X so already we're ready
to split apart this the second X so slip
off the next two pearls because you
already moved the other two pearls over
there yeah I don't know it's very
confusing but slip off those two pearls
slide them to the right we're gonna be
knitting two stitches off we're just
gonna split them up
and then bring it back and purl those
now we're on the last two stitches for
this X and to do the same thing we did
for the last one we're going to move it
to to the left take off two and then
purl to make sure you bring it to the
front so it goes to the left and then
bring it back up and knit off those two
stitches we're on the very last X and
we're gonna do the exact same thing
we're gonna split it up so slip off
those two stitches the pearls bring them
to the back knit two stitches and then
parole
the two stitches again and then we've
got the last arm of that X on the last X
gonna do the same thing slip them off
bring it to the front and purl two
stitches so we're going to move it two
to the left one and two bring back up
the stitches and knit them off
and now for your border and the end just
gonna purl through or do whatever you
want for your border and then like all
cable projects the backside is going to
be the easiest so just flip your
knitting over and knit and purl knit the
knits and purl the pearls just like you
normally would really easy breezy but
just make sure now that you're not
getting mixed up because now the knits
and the pearls are all split up so it's
not you can't rely on the first pattern
that you originally had so just be
careful when you're doing that but the
basic rule stays the same you're just
knitting the knits and purling the
pearls so go through that backside real
quickly and then I will meet you back on
the front side congratulations you made
it now you can easily see what is going
on here we split up the x's and now
we're ready for the two x's here so if
you look at your handy little chart here
we're going to be making these two x's
so we're gonna be crossing these two x's
that are right here one and two and then
for these little arms that are on the
ends we're gonna make them go out a
little further and then slowly bring
them back in on the next rows knit your
border however you're planning on doing
your border and then for this first
right arm here the jury is kind of out
on what to do with these end pieces that
go out you can either I like to bring
them out to spaces so I'm gonna take the
two pearls and move them out but some
people will say otherwise um some people
will say to either leave them the same
or only move them out one stitch it kind
of depends on how you want your knitting
to look like I like to hash have a lot
of space between the cables so I like to
bring it out to spaces but if you just
want to do one
or do you know such at all you can
definitely do that it's all kind of to
you I'll show you a couple examples of
that in a minute actually but I'm going
to knit those off and then I've got two
pearls here that I'm just gonna actually
knit like normal finally we're not gonna
have to worry about cabling a bunch of
stuff actually for pearls sorry I'm
gonna pearl for stitches because that's
gonna be the four in between the X's
we're still following that rule and so
now we're at the first X and we're going
to cross it just like we crossed those
first row of X's on the bottom so if you
look at your example working right now
on these two crosses right here I need a
third arm to hold this but we're gonna
be doing these two crosses here and I
like to bring the outer one over so this
left the far ones are going inwards but
again whether they go over or under it's
kind of personal preference people will
tell you different things depending on
different patterns but the most
important part of the sock with sex and
stitch or sex and braid is that you're
at least crossing them so I'm going to
bring them over so for the first X I'm
going to take off the two stitches and
bring them over and knit two stitches
off
and bring up my cable and knit those off
too
so we've crossed that X now we get to
purl the four stitches in between the
two x's so purl one two three and four
and now for the last X or the second X
we're going to bring the outer cable
inwards so I'm going to take the two off
I'm gonna move it move it to the back
and knit the two stitches here which
will bring the cable over and then knit
the two off the cable
and then the easy part we just knit four
stitches here
and here's the last arm of that cable
that's going out like I said before it's
personal preference totally up to you I
like to bring it over to stitches
because I like the outer arms to go out
pretty far but you can either move it
over just one stitch or might even move
it over at all it's up to you but I'm
gonna move it out two stitches and then
get it back up
and then surprise surprise you are done
with that row so finish your border and
then flip it over on to the back side
and knit the knits and purl pearls
straight through so flip it over knit
the knits and purl the pearls on the
backside all the way through like you've
been doing and then I will meet you on
the front side and we'll take a look at
it here we are back on the front side
are you starting to get the hang of what
we're doing hopefully you are we've
crossed the two crosses here and now we
only have one more cross to do if you
look at the example we're gonna be doing
this middle one they're kind of the
middle pretzel part of the Sexson braid
that's what we're gonna be working on
and we're gonna be moving out these two
arms a little further and these ones are
gonna stay the same so it actually gets
easier from here on out what we're doing
now is we're gonna gear up for the X
that's gonna be right here in the middle
and these arms are going to be coming in
to form the X these arms are gonna be
going out and in and these ones over
here are gonna be staying the same knit
or purl your border like normal and then
right away you're gonna be hit with this
arm of the cable or at this cable sorry
that's going all the way out and since
he doesn't have any further to go I'm
just gonna leave him normal he's gonna
be going straight so knit those two
we're not gonna have to worry about
cabling them in any direction so that is
super fun and then you're just gonna
purl to the next arm but you're gonna
stop two stitches before that X so
pearl that and now we've got two more
pearls and we're gonna do what we did
when we were splitting up these three
first crosses we're going to split up
these two crosses so take off the two
pearls here one two and you're going to
bring them to the back so we can take
this arm of the the cross two stitches
to the right so knit two and then bring
back up the two pearls and purl them off
and then we're gonna split up this one
and we're going to do like we did before
slip them off and we're gonna purl two
stitches so we move it two stitches to
the left and knit those off
and then we've got the second X here
we're gonna split this one up too so
take off the two pearls that are left in
between move them to the right and knit
two stitches then purl these two
stitches hopefully you are getting the
hang of this by now and figuring out
what we're gonna do cuz in a couple more
rows we're gonna flip everything upside
down
so last arm here we're going to move
this arm over two stitches so we're
gonna purl we brought it to the front so
it goes to the left and knit those off
and now you're done just gonna knit all
the way through and then this last arm
we're gonna keep sending him just
straight so you're gonna knit those so
purl purl purl then we're going to knit
that last arm sending him straight and
then flip your work over to the back
side and you're gonna knit and purl knit
purl like normal all the way through the
back side and then I will meet you back
here on the front side and we will be
ready to cross that just one X now now
we're back on the front side and now we
are ready to cross this last X that is
at the very top and these two arms on
either side we're not going to pay
attention to them they're just gonna be
going straight up so this is probably
the easiest row you're going to be doing
so knit everything like normal don't
have to worry about cabling or anything
like that until we get to that middle X
so I'm just gonna purl and knit all the
way through here knit that arm there and
purl now some people like I said before
they will bring this arm out further and
this arm out further I like to keep it
as is but depending on your pattern or
whoever is telling you the rules they
might say otherwise but I like to keep
that where it's at
so purl and then knit through that arm
two stitches like normal
and then purl two stitches we're just
getting four stitches and now we're at
the middle part so here is the middle X
and like I explained before it's
personal preference whether you want the
right arm to go over the left arm or the
left arm to go over the right arm I
typically like to have the right side
going over the left side so I'm going to
take off two stitches and bring it to
the front which will bring it over and
then knit off those two stitches
bring it back up knit off the cable
and now you're done cross that X now you
can just knit worryfree all the way the
rest of the way through to the end so
I'm going to knit all the way through
the end and then I got in it all the way
through the back side then I'll show you
we'll be back on the front side and
we'll take a look at what's going on so
now we are back on the front and let's
recap what we did so we've got three x's
here there's one two three and then two
x's right above them one two and then
one last X at the top just one right
here so if you look on our little chart
we have made a nice little pyramid of
X's here and so now this might be kind
of bittersweet but we're only halfway
through the pattern but it is easier
what we're gonna be doing now is
building back kind of an inverted
pyramid so you're gonna be building two
x's here then three x's above those so
building back the pyramid and I'm
actually going to be showing you how to
do that over in part two of this video
so if you think you have it figured out
and you think you can figure out what
happens with the pattern you're
basically just bringing in these two
arms and building up the pyramid again
definitely just go ahead and do that if
you want to see how I do that and get
the tips on that go ahead over to part
two and I'll be showing you how to
finish up the rest of this pattern but
good luck no matter what you do you did
an awesome job getting through these
these X's and all this cabling so thanks
for watching and if you move over to
part two I will see you there