Lots of Knots Canada was my saving grace during macrame! She goes through the basic knots, has video of every single step in the process, and makes it super easy to follow along. After going through the basic knots and familiarizing myself with them, I decided to follow Lots of Knots Canada´s video for a paw print using only square knots. Super easy!
While mine doesn't look quite as good as hers, it's still not bad for my first big piece! I did have some knots I had to undo because I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been, but it really was suuuuper easy.
I found it easier to work with my piece hanging. I have a garment rack that I picked up at Target a few years ago to use in my classroom when I taught Kindergarten. It was the perfect thing to secure my dowel to so I could work while it hung in front of me. I just tied some bungee cord I have to the garment rack, then slipped the dowel through it to hang.
WHAT DO I NEED?
- 6mm macrame cord (I used Cora's Cotton Craft Cord in white)
- wooden dowel
The cord I used is 50' in length, so I let that determine how long each piece was going to be. I cut 14 3' pieces.
The first knot is the larks head knot. This will attach the cord to the dowel. To do this, fold the cord in half and make a loop. Take the looped end and fold it over the dowel so that the loop is hanging past the dowel. Take the two ends of the the cord and pass it through the loop, pulling tight to secure the knot onto the dowel.
Do this with each of the remaining 13 pieces of cord, leaving a little space in between each cord.
The rest of the piece is literally just square knots. That's. It.
The next step in making 2 oval that will be the middle 2 toes of the paw print. Using cords 9-12, tie a square knot. Then, moving 2 cords to the left, tie 2 square knots just under the first knot you tied. This will be with cords 7-10. Do the same thing to the right of the original knot with cords 11-14. Finish this "toe" by tying one more square knot underneath the last knots you tied using cords 9-12. This will complete an oval. Do the same think on the right side of the piece, starting with cords 17-20. This will create another oval and complete the 2 middle toes.
For the outer toes, you will do the same process. Start with cords 3-6 on the left and cords 23-26 on the right.
For the pad of the paw, start in the center with cords 13-16 and tie a square knot. Move down the pad tying square knots: 13-16, 11-14, 15-18, 13-16. Once this circle of square knots is complete, do the same on the left and on the right, then repeat again below the initial center starting point. If that made no sense, I would definitely recommend watching the video walk through from Lots of Knots Canada. She's amazing at going through the step by step.
Since I clearly didn't use the entire 3 feet of dowel, I'll be cutting of about 2 feet using my circular hand saw before I hang up the final piece above the boys' table. Now if only I could think of something to represent a beardie so Bennie doesn't feel left out!
Happy crafting!
No comments:
Post a Comment