Be my BFF

This is a special Wednesday.  I am about to reveal a new layer of geekery and the ultimate mediocre craft.

Before cross-stitching, embroidery floss played a special role in many many hours of my adolescence, which was mostly spent alone.

When I wasn’t alone, I was torturing my sister, teaching her the wrong meanings for words or convincing her she was adopted.  Alternatively, I was with my only high-school friend, painting my nails a different colour each week.  Hence the irony of the craft I am about to discuss.

I spent hours pouring over new designs and colour combinations and worked my way up from six to twelve strands of floss.  Then, when my latest masterpiece was complete, I showed my sister (who had usually forgiven/forgotten my evil ways by that time) and put it away in an old pencil case.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I was making, hilariously, friendship bracelets.

That’s right.  After giving one to my sister and one to my only high-school friend, I didn’t really have any reason to make them anymore.  In fact, I didn’t even wear them myself because I was afraid someone would ask who gave it to me.  Alone in their box, they sat, dozens of them, sorted by size.

And when I moved 4000 km away this summer, my mother phoned to see if I wanted them.

YES!  I said, and send along all that other crappy craft stuff!  Little did I know I would be blogging about all that s**t. (Plus I have friends (plural) now.. maybe they want to wear a friendship bracelet to work?)

Want to learn to make one?  I’ll give you the quick version.  Here’s a half finished one I found in my box of abandoned dreams:

That one’s a bit complicated for a beginner, which, to your reputation’s credit, I will assume you are.

For a simple one, pick three colours.  Embroidery floss comes with six strands wound together.  For each colour, cut one piece of floss (all six strands).  The length of the piece should be from your wrist to your shoulder and back again.  Make them a bit extra long, just in case.  Take all three strands, find the middle and fold them in half, put the halfway point over your finger and tie them in a double or triple knot around your finger so that you have a loop at the top. (You can take the loop off of your finger now…)

Safety pin the knot to your jeans, or to a cushion if you are feeling precious.  Decide how you want the strands to pattern.  For example, this is my first-ever bracelet:

It goes pink, blue, yellow.  Spread the strands out so that they go “pink blue yellow pink blue yellow” or whatever.  Take the first strand on the left and cross it over the second strand on the left while pulling a bit of the first strand out to make a 4 shape:

See the 4?  Then tie a knot by putting the first strand under the still-vertical thread and through the triangle shape you just created:

Pull tight, keeping the first strand visible.  You shouldn’t see any of the second strand’s colour showing through.  Do another knot, exactly the same, with the first strand on the second strand.  Then take the first strand, which should end up on the right side of the second strand, and do the same thing on the third strand.  Continue till the first strand has made double knots on all five other strands, then go back to the left.  The second strand has now become the first strand on the left, so do the same thing with that one, ending by doing two knots on the former first strand.  You should get diagonal lines of colour emerging, like you see on my first ever bracelet, above.

When you only have a few inches of thread left, or you think it is long enough to go comfortably around your wrist, weave the last few inches of the threads into two braids and tie the end of each braid.  By tying the braids to the loop, you should be able to wear your bracelet everyday for the rest of your life.

Want to be my friend?  I’ll make you a bracelet.

Let me know.