friendship bracelets ❤ love & links ❤

October 21, 2012 Kate

Isn't it funny how hands have their own memories. How hands can remember the way to do something that the head has completely forgotten.

Do you know what I mean?

This happened a few years ago when I picked up the knitting needles for the first time since school and my hands remembered how to do a basic stitch.

And a few days ago, after a twenty year break, my hands remembered the way to tie the knots to make friendship bracelets. It all felt so familiar and so comfortable, like I had only made a knotted band a few days before.

And as my hands did their thing and knotted the strings, they brought back feelings and memories from the last time they did those same actions. The knotting brought back memories of a toiletry bag filled with rolls of coloured cottons, of safety pins stuck through the hem of my jeans for tension, of sitting around with friends gossiping and knotting, of swapping bracelets with friends and boyfriends, of intricate patterns, of wearing one bracelet even though it gave me a rash underneath, of not taking them off until they fell off and of gorgeous collections up and down my arms and ankles.

Twenty years later and my girls are now loving the old friendship bracelets. Every time I look at them they seem to have accumulated more. As the days get warmer, their sleeves get shorter and the amount of stuff tied around their wrists get thicker.

I think they look gorgeous. I love their individual collections. I love that their fad takes me back to such a happy time in my life. And I love a handmade trend. It's like a crafty opportunity and that is pretty ace in my books.

I had planned to write my own tutorial for the basic knots and patterns you need to make a friendship bracelet, but after doing a quick google search I found some great ones. Clear and easy to follow.

Here's my friendship bracelet linky list;

Friendship bracelets.net - The basic knot.

The Purl Bee - Chevron stitch (same as above).

Friendship bracelets.net - Wave stitch (same as below).

Friendship bracelets.net - Braid stitch.

Friendship bracelets.net - Alphabet.

The Purl Bee - Valentine stitch.

You can buy rolls of cotton or embroidery floss from craft shops and wool shops.

On a shopping trip to Bendigo recently we found a whole heap of odds and ends of cotton in the back room of the Bendigo Woollen Mills. You might be lucky and find some in op/thrift shops too.

And while you've got your cotton and knots happening you might want to make want to make your head phones cozy and tangle free, deets here.

Every time I think I might make one for me or my farmer boy, I get another request from my girls. I think it's high time I teach them how to make their own. I think we might drag a blanket outside this afternoon and have a lesson. I can't think of anything nicer.

Oh and while we are talking about knotting, the winners of the Ebooks are;
Michelle Symes - who chose the 24/7 book.
Leah - who also chose the 24/7 book.
Yay!!
Email me with your email details girls and we'll get those Ebooks to you asap.

So how about you?
Do your hands sometimes surprise you with their own memory?
Did you make friendship bracelets as a kid?
Do they bring back happy memories?
Are you going to make some now?
I hope so.

Happy knotting!

Bye! x