Something Pretty Bracelet

This little bracelet features delicate pink seed beads meandering around a Thai Hill Tribes sterling silver origami bead. These unique pieces of origami are thin strips of silver folded into beads. If you cannot find them you can use any type of 6 mm glass bead such as Swarovski bicones or Czech or Austrian fi re- polished glass beads. This bracelet uses the double half- hitch knots learned in the previous section (see page TK). The double half hitch is the most commonly used knot in macram and other lace forms such as tatting.
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Materials
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Burgundy C- Lon cord (not C- Lon thread) or Tuff Cord #5, 54" length 1 Large lobster claw clasps 2 7 4 mm sterling Thai Hill Tribes origami beads 20 Clear nail polish
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u Size- 8 frosted pink seed beads, tube

1 Measure off 18" of the 54" cord and fold the cord in two; create a larks head knot onto the loop on the lobster claw clasp. Pin the clasp onto the padded clipboard.

4 Using the cord strung with the frosted pink seed beads, tie a double half- hitch knot around the cord with the silver origami bead.

7 Once you have completed the twentieth section, string the second lobster claw clasp onto the two strands of cord.

Tie an overhand knot under this larks head knot.

2

You have finished one section of the bracelet! Now all you need to do is create another 19 sections. As you can see in the picture above, the cord you used to string the frosted pink seed beads onto is shooting out to the right.
5 String 8 frosted pink beads onto it and string a silver origami bead onto the shorter string.

Tie it off with an overhand knot. You may want to use a straight pin to help guide the knot toward the clasp. Tie another overhand knot and dab the cord with clear nail polish. If you dont have clear nail polish, you can use glue to seal the knot.
8

String a silver origami bead onto the 18" length of cord, then string 8 frosted pink seed beads onto the 36" bit of cord. To make stringing beads easier for yourself, trim the ends of the cord on the diagonal. If the cords tips fray too much, coat them with a dab of Fray Check.
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Tie a double half hitch under the silver origami bead.

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Cut the excess cord away after the polish has dried. You can also singe the ends of the cut cord with a singeing device or a lit stick of incense (beware that this may turn the ends of the cord black); this will melt the cords together. Be careful not to singe too much. Try on your new bracelet and admire your supreme handiwork!
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Knots Used in M icro-Macram

Its too intricate for me! I could never get through an entire piece! I hear that a lot from friends whove watched me knotting bracelets. Well, Im about to let you in on a little secret: Macram is deceptively easy to do and it goes a lot faster than knitting socks, scarves, or sweaters. Most macram work is based on a handful of knots: the larks head, overhand, half, and double half hitch. Throw in the ever- popular flat knot (also known as the square knot) and youve got a complete repertoire.

overhand knot
An overhand knot is formed by simply making a loop in the cord and passing the end of the cord through that loop and drawing it tight. You can use a straight pin to position the knot close to a bead.

An overhand knot can be made with more than one strand of cord, as in the two- strand overhand knot at left.

larks head knot

Well start with something simple: the larks head knot. The larks head is made by folding a cord in half and threading the loose ends of the cord through the loop formed by the fold.

half knot
A half knot is only half of a square knot; it will naturally twist around after a couple of them have been knotted in a line. If you start a half knot from the right- hand side, make all of the knots from the r ight- hand side in the whole piece. Start the half knot by placing the right- hand side cord over the top of two filler cords and threading the left- hand cord over the right- hand cord, behind the two filler cords, and back over the right- hand cord. Then repeat the threading sequence by placing the right- hand cord over the top of the filler cords and threading the left- hand cord behind the filler cords and over the right- hand cord. Pull the outer cords tight. Tie another half knot. By now youll see the how the knot is spiraling to the left. Seven half knots will usually create one revolution of knots.

Larks heads are used a lot to mount cords onto another cord to start a micro- macram piece. You can tie larks head knots onto starting cords and then flip the knotted pieces over and work the rest of the knots from there; the backs of larks head knots have a cleaner look and are less obtrusive.

In the Cliffdweller Brooch on p. xxx, half knots flank a line of flat knots.

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K nots used in M ic r o - M ac r am u 17

flat knot
The flat knot is just another name for a square knot. Usually it is tied with four cords; two on the outside enclosing two inner cords. But theres no limit to using only two inner cords; some projects in the book require four or more inner cords. Cross the right- hand cord over the inner cords and the left- hand cord under the two inner cords. Thread the right- hand cord front to back through the loop created at the left- hand side of the knot. Likewise, thread the left- hand cord from the back to the front through the loop formed at the right- hand side of the knot. Then cross the left- hand cord over the inner cords and the right- hand cord under the inner cords. Thread the left- hand cord from the front to the back through the loop on the right- hand side, and the right- hand cord from the back to the front through the loop on the left side of the knot. Pull the cords tight to form a flat knot that encases the two filler cords.

Alternating flat knots

Alternating flat knots are frequently used in micro- macram projects because they create a lacy- looking fabric base for watchbands and bracelets. A bed of alternating flat knots can be worked on any number of cords so long as the total number of cords used is divisible by four. For a bed of twelve cords, in the first row of knots, leave the outer two cords on both sides unknotted. Tie two flat knots, using two filler cords for each flat knot. On the next row, use all twelve cords to tie three flat knots. For the fourth row, youll repeat what you did for the second row tie two flat knots leaving the outer two cords on each side unknotted.

You can repeat this sequence again and again to create a fairly sturdy background for a button to be sewn onto.

A line of flat knots tied one after the other will look like this:

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K nots used in M ic r o - M ac r am u 19

double h alf- h itch knot

Now we come to the double half hitch (sometimes known as the clove knot), which is as essential to micro- macram as the flat knot. Sequences of double half- hitch knots can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. A vertical double half hitch knot is achieved by wrapping a cord twice around a vertical filler cord. In this book well use the diagonal double half hitch quite a lot. It is not an easy knot to learn for some people myself included but once you have mastered it, you can conquer the world! Here is how to start a sequence of diagonal double half- hitch knots that progress from upper left to lower right. In the picture there is a line of six larks head knots; each larks head knot has two cords hanging down from it. Lay the farthest- left cord over all the other cords. This cord will become the filler or holding cord; that is, all of the other cords will be formed into knots that surround this cord.
Note how the wrapped cord is knotted around the filler cord

To create a line of diagonal double half- hitch knots traveling from upper right to lower left, wrap the second- to- last cord on the right up and around the filler cord (rightmost cord), pulling the wrapping cord tight around the filler cord.

From underneath the filler cord wrap the adjacent cord up and around it and pull that wrapping cord tight.

Wrap the same cord around the filler cord again and thread the end through the loop you created; youve now completed a right- sided diagonal double half hitch. Pick up the cord to the left of it and create another double half- hitch knot. Continue until you have created a line of them.

Now wrap the same cord around the filler cord again and thread the end through the loop you created; these two wraps equal one double half- hitch knot. The key is to keep tension taut on the filler cord when wrapping cords around that filler cord. Dont lose hope if this knot isnt easy to make. It takes a lot of practice to get evenly placed diagonal double half hitches. This can be daunting at first, so practice, practice, practice. Here is a line of five diagonal double half hitch knots that have been knotted from upper left to lower right. To tie a line of left- side diagonal double half hitches and a line of rightside diagonal double half hitches to each other, cross the filler cord from the right- hand side over the left and use the filler cord from the left side to wrap a double h alf- hitch knot over it.

Another good thing to do is use a straight pin to stabilize each section as you finish it. This really does make it easier to control how well the next double half- hitch knot falls into place.

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K nots used in M ic r o - M ac r am u 21