Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Holiday crafting with friendship bracelets


It been a busy summer with lots of days spent like this (see above), but I am a maker and I get itchy fingers if I don't have something to make with me. Last year I ended up buying a magazine and kit at a supermarket and learning to crochet. This year I decided to be a bit more organised and I was inspired by the front cover of Issue 16 of Mollie Makes, so I packed up a bag of embroidery threads and off we went.



I have only been able to make bracelets with diagonal stripes before and I was determined to learn how to make a chevron pattern. There is a great tutorial in the magazine. I got the hang of that one fairly quickly with great results. Then I found a website full of friendship bracelet patterns here. I spent a few days of frustrated knotting until I went back and read the tutorial about how to follow the patterns and then I really got the hang of it. As my husband says, "When all else fails, read the instructions!". I would recommend starting with the easier patterns and working up as they are usefully rated by difficulty.

The bracelets here are (L-R) one I made up (not sure about this one), pattern #32492, a chevron, and pattern #26109 .


I then had a go at a tricky one (pattern #59957)  and it worked out well, although it ended up being a bit short as the threads you start with need to be much longer than I anticipated. I really enjoyed making these and they were a welcome break of crafting just for fun, with no deadlines or expectations, just creative expression.


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