Saturday, October 12, 2013

Friendship Bracelets

Lately I've had the urge to do something different, since I seem to have run out of steam with knitting.

When I was a teenager we had this phase or craze in making friendship bracelets.  Now I have to tell you that was way back.  Some things are like riding a bicycle, once you learn it you never forget.  Well in this case, for me, it was more like swimming.  I had to learn it all over again! Yep I learnt to swim twice.

Well I went to the euro store and picked up a pack of embroidery threads for the practice runs.  After a little google, I found a pile of tutorials and patterns. So I did my practice run in knot tying and had my first one done in no time.  Next I went to complicated,  think I must like the challenge.  I made a strap for my watch.  You knot the threads around the pins and work from there.  When I reached the buckle, it got a bit messy and I could have done it better. (next time I know better).  I sewed in the ends of thread, another not so tidy job. But no-one is going to see it right.  repeat for the longer strap, shaping the end.

And there is the end product.  Of course now I just have to get a battery put into it.  But it is so comfortable on the wrist and my skin will love it.

Having done that one I was ready for the big bad boy of a cuff, with 12 threads.  Yup double whammy. I had to look up and take note of how all the different knots were done to carry the threads.  I have to say when I started it was confusing and painfully slow.
But definitely worth the effort.  I had found the middle of the bundle of threads and braided them, before securing them with the white thread you see in the picture.  This is just to hold it all in place while I work on it.
What I haven't figured out yet is the length you need for each colour.  for example I ran out of yellow and had to join more, the orange only just mad it and there was plenty of blue, but the red and green just managed to be long enough.




This is the end result, I split the ends into two sections and braided them, so one slips through the other end, which is then tied. Below is the blurry shot on the wrist, well it's not easy taking a shot one handed and with your other hand!