friendship bracelet

Now here is a blast from the past! I don't know if you all were like me, but I was a friendship bracelet addict growing up. It seemed like I was making a new one every week, giving them away and wearing them where ever I could tie the things on. Well this is a little revisit of the classic friendship bracelet, with a little twist.

I started by going to my new favorite store Hobby Lobby, we have only had them in Arizona for a few years, but my family in the mid-west have been talking about this place for years. I wish that they were open seven days a week, but other than that, I am in LOVE. I picked out a variety pack of embroidery floss, and brought my 40% off coupon. 

I picked colors inspired by a patterned dress from my place of employment, I figured that I could wear the bracelet with the newest collection that came in. I chose a bright blue, deep pink, orange, and purple, cutting each strand to 60" lengths. Take the four strands and folded them in half, tying a knot at the end creating a loop just big enough for my {peace sign} bead to pass through.

The easiest way to do this is to attach your bracelet to something stable. You could tape it to a table, use a safety pin to tack it to a pillow, a clipboard, or whatever works for you to keep it still while working. I taped mine to a lap desk, fired up netflix, and got started.

Arrange the stands in the order that you want the stripes to appear. I wanted to have consistent stripes so I put both sets of colors in the same order. For the "ombre" effect, place the first four strands from lightest to darkest, and the next four strands from darkest to lightest.

Now to the actual making of the bracelet. Take the first strand and place it over the second, creating a "4" shape like seen above. Hold the second strand tight, and pull up the first strand creating an overhand knot. Repeat same thing with the same two strands. Then take the first strand and repeat the steps on the third strand. Continue this with all remaining strands, and make sure to create two over hand knots on each strand.

When you get to the end of the row, start over with the next color. Easy as that. Once you get going it is easier to see what color comes next, and you get into a rhythm that makes it go by pretty fast. Once the bracelet is the desired length, tie a knot at the end, and braid the tail to make a closure. Add the bead of your choice, and you are ready to go. 

 After some trial and error, I did find that I liked the way the closure looked better if I braided the center of the four strands before making a loop, and attached the bead with a piece of embroidery floss into the final knot.

I kept one for myself, and have given the rest away to my friends, just like in the sixth grade!