Macrame Key Rings!
...Macramé Keyrings!
Hello to all our lovely customers and welcome to a new feature of the ASU website! If you haven't been following me on our Facebook page, Chloe Makes involves me being given the challenge of making something each week with no previous knowledge of how to make the item! This week I was challenged to try out macramé - not something I’ve ever attempted before!
I started off by looking up the basic knots and giving them a try. On my practice ring I tried the square knot, spiral stitch and the diagonal clove hitch. My clove hitch definitely needs a lot more practice, as do my other knots, however, I was happy with the first attempts and decided to move on to my first keyring design.
I tied the ring to the back of a chair, the easiest way to keep tension on the knots without involving another person! I used the Lark’s Head Knot, also sometimes known as the Cow Hitch Knot, to attach the cords to the ring and used 4 strands to double up as the cords I was using were a little thin.
For this key ring I decided to use the square knot, to achieve this, you take an outside strand – in my example, the right – and cross it over the top of the middle two (the square knot needs at least 4 strands). The strand from the other side (left) goes over the top of the right strand and then around the back and through the right-hand loop which creates a knot around the centre strands. Pull it tight and you have your knot! I added some beads for decoration and then wound some different coloured strands around the end to tie it off
Keyring number 1, complete!
The next design was much the same, however using a spiral stitch this time. I used 4 different coloured strands to create a multicoloured effect, swapping the inside stands for the outside once I had a large block of the desired effect, simple, yet effective! I wrapped the remains of the threads around the bottom and tied it off, second keyring, done, and quickly too!
The third one is definitely my favourite, and I love how the effect of the horizontal clove hitch looks. Using different coloured threads I was able to create a striped effect, I stopped part of the way down, did a whole square knot, then carried on a little longer before wrapping the strands around the end to tie it off.
Finally, I attempted the diagonal clove hitch again, this still may not be my best, but with practice, I will definitely improve! I’ll let you be the judge on this one!
Thank you for reading the new Chloé Makes blog post, comment below which one is your favourite and I'll see you next week,
