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Also called a "God's eye" or "Godseye", a rather attractive and easy craft made with yarn and two sticks. (Or, frequently made by children in bible school or sunday school on popcicle sticks.) The craft is actually Mexican in origin, as far as anyone knows--at least it was popularized there as an art form, but its concept is so simple, any society with yarn could have easily created these. Although many folks claim these are religious in origin, to my knowledge they are secular although some people have taken them as symbols of divinity since they are based on a 'cross'.

The sticks are fastened togheter in a manner of your choice, and the thread (one strand, or several) affixed to the center of the contraption. If using various strings, start them all at the center at the same time. Now comes the diagram. (Forgive the hideous text art.)

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1
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|---2-3-----
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4
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1 is the starting point of a rotation. It is on TOP of the stick. Draw the string down tight diagonally to the top of the stick at a right angle and to the right of the first--position two, also on top of the second stick. Point three is actually underneath stick two, immediately below point 2. You are wrapping the string under and around the stick. Now bring the string BACK to point two, criscrossing it and forming an 'x'. Then take it, again top to top, to point four, which is the same as point one, just on the lower half of the stick. Pull your strings tight at all times. Go around the entire framework, returning finally to point one, stick one.

If you are only using one string, you've got it. Just keep going. The front will be a solid-woven, interlocking diamond. The back will be two wrapped sticks in a "cross" with a solid diamond sunken some distance behind it. You can display it either way, although the 'proper' way is full-diamond to the front--the sticks are just a frame, not part of the decoration.

More colors gets more complicated and makes the back ugly and undisplayable. Go one circuit with thread one. When you get back to start, tuck that thread back to the back--not in anywhere, just below the stick, out of the way. Now, bring thread two from your origin, place it on TOP of point one, make a circuit, and so fourth. Repeat with each thread. This gets very complicated with more than three or four threads tops, so i don't recommend it until you've gotten very good at it.


Y'all had damn well better be grateful! I couldn't remember how to make these silly things, having made one last in probably fourth grade so i sat at my desk looking like a fool trying to construct one out of taped-together pens, leather lacing, and headphone wiring until i got it right ^_^ I look foolish for your enlightenment.

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