Book excerpt: This is the second Kumihimo book by Rebecca Combs. This book will focus more on the beginner and shares some of the most popular features that made the first book a runaway success: conversational voice, skill-building format, Kumihimo math, and continuing to use the inexpensive Kumihimo foam disk. Kumihimo Simplified includes 5 “new” braids: 8-warp basket weave, 16-warp rectangular, 16-warp hollow basket, 8-warp half-round, and 8-warp square. Beads will be included within the braids where appropriate, however, the focus will be straight braid. Special sidebars will include Creative Closures - 5 different ways to finish Kumihimo braids, besides the common gluing of endcaps.