A New Craft

I have a lot of embroidery floss. And I like to embroider, but I don't do it often. The kids like to embroider - even Alan - but they really need a lot of hands on assistance to keep their needles threaded.

So when I saw a book at the library about making "friendship bracelets" by knotting embroidery floss I thought it might be a fun craft that they could do more on their own and end up with something semi-useful. And I was kind of right.

I made the ones on the left and right in the picture. The one in the middle is Alan's start. I was really amazed at how well he did - while he sat next to me. I didn't help him. He tied all the knots. Then he took it to his room to sit on his bed and work on it, and it seemed to get a little more messy... but still... Don't tell Julia and Holly, but I think his was as good or better than the ones they did.

It took about an hour for me to complete one. Maybe a little less time once I got the hang of handling the threads. And the kids were good for about 10 to 15 minutes. Holly said it hurt her arm to tie all the knots.

So it was a kind of success. I do think they like the results - although no one has actually worn a creation yet. Maybe I should just set up some regular embroidery for them instead.

Hm.