DIY Friendship Bracelets
I've been finding a lot of images and people selling friendship bracelets and decided summer is here and its time to DIY. I really love all the thick friendship bracelets in bright summer colors so I decided to make one for myself!
Next I went shopping for some yarn. I knew I wanted to use yarn instead of embroidery thread because it is thicker, which will make the whole process faster and easier. I found this adorable package of baby yarns so I don't have to buy a big ball of yarn for a little project. Awesome!
I made sure to get a pack with very bright, happy, summer colors!
I found an easy to follow pattern online. This website has hundreds of patterns to choose from it was very overwhelming, but I decided on this one:
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| Source: friendship-bracelets.net |
For this pattern you will need 7 different yarn colors and each color needs to be cut into 2 strings that are about 72" long. I had a lot left over but its better to be safe than sorry because it's very difficult to add thread after you have run out.
So now you should have 14 really long strings... keep them all together by tying a knot near the top but giving yourself a 6" tail at the top for later. I use a clip board to hold the bracelet in place and it works like a charm!
Get yourself organized before you start by moving the strings around to be in the same color order as your pattern. The picture above is my bracelets in the strings laid out in order.
Let's first talk about how to read that pattern.
KNOT #1
If you have ever made a friendship bracelet before you know how to do this one already it is the knot used to make all the basic bracelets. Here's how you do it:
You take the two stings (from the pattern image above the two thread colors would be lavender and purple), and you make the shape of a 4 with the string on bottom (purple) as the straight part and the string on top as the angled part going around your thumb (lavender).
Then you take the top string (lavender) and pull the tail through the opening of the "4".
Let go with your thumb and pull tight.
Then pull the knot all the way to the top and REPEAT. It's very important that you make sure you do this all over again.
So every time you see this you do the 4 knot TWO TIMES.KNOT #2
This knot is the exact same it's just going the other way.
So you make your 4 shape (I'm right handed so I can't really use my thumb going lefty so I just set the string off to the side.
Then pull the tail through the opening pull tightly to the top and REPEAT.
These next two knots are the most difficult because they combine both previous knots. Its very important to do these knots correctly because this is how you get the strings in the correct order for the pattern following. Luckily there are not very many of these in the pattern I chose!
KNOT #3
This knot still has two parts but they are different. First you do knot #1 (with the angle of the 4 going to the right) then the second part is knot #2 (the angle of the 4 to the right). If you use the arrow lines as guidance the arrow starts on the right and turns to the left so your knot starts with the four to the right then to the left. KNOT #4
This knot is the same as #3 just in reverse so you will start with the angle of the 4 on the left and then on the right.
If you are worried about reading the pattern find yarn similar to the pattern it will make it much less confusing than if you are trying to decipher the arrows and you can't remember which color goes where.
Now I will warn you before you start the first 5-6 rows are the hardest. You're trying to get the hang of tying the knots and the pattern hasn't formed yet and the strings are going everywhere. DON'T PANIC! It's going to look great and you are going to get the hang of it. Just keep going!
This pattern is pretty mean and makes you do the hardest knots right at the beginning but you got it!
The easiest way to keep all your strings organized is to move the strings from the right side of your clipboard to your left side as you use them.
Yay! First row done!
If you look on the pattern you see that row 2 is going to start with the 2nd and 3rd strings NOT the first. So make sure you set the first string (the light blue in the pattern) off to the let side of your clipboard then take the 2nd and 3rd (lavender and bright purple) and tie them together.
Also at the end you will not use the last string. This makes the knots on the second row nestle into the first row so there are no gaps or wholes.
Here's what it looked like when I started row 2.
Now you've got the first 2 rows down keep going!! You won't be able to see the pattern until about row 12.
After I completed the whole pattern
After you've completed the pattern all the way through start back over at the top!
After I completed the pattern twice
Third times the charm I've done the pattern three times and it fits around my wrist. All done!
My biggest piece of advise for the best looking bracelet is to tie your knots evenly and the best way to do that is to stay consistent on how tightly you pull the strings. If you start by pulling really really tight at the beginning and then get really loose at the end your bracelet will get wider at the end. If you tie one knot really tight and the knot next to it really loose the pattern won't look even. But don't worry it gets easier as you go and you start to get the hang of it.
Next I'll be adding embellishments to my bracelet to really finish it off. I'm thinking a gold clasp and a gold chain around the outside!
Till next time!
Allie
