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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Holes Tied Together With Macrame String

Netting ... Holes Tied Together With String: "LET'S MAKE A STRING BAG

A good way to start your first project is with a ball of macramé twine, which is both easy to manipulate and makes a satisfyingly strong net. Don't be afraid to use another string if you can't get macrame, though ... any strong cord about as thick as a pencil lead will do.

Load your netting needle (sometimes called a bobbin) with the twine: Take a turn of the free end of the ball of string around the tool's pin and carry the cord around the bottom end of the bobbin, back up the other side, around the pin, back down under ... and so on until the reel is full. Cut the twine.

Tie a loop—big enough to let the needle slip through freely—in the end of the string coming from the needle. Call this Loop 1. Slip the circle of cord over a hook in the wall or tie it to a doorknob, a low branch of a tree, the back of a chair, whatever. When I was young my embryonic long-net for rabbiting was constructed with its first loop tied to the U-trap under the washbasin in the bathroom."

I feel across this wonderful pattern - just click on the title to go to the webpage with the whole pattern. It is not 'pure' Macrame, and it actually reminded me of the Onion Baskets I used to make when I was a little'un. Does anyone have an old pattern for that? Mine seem to have been turfed by my parents in a house move...guess none of us were fortune tellers and knew I would be getting back into Macrame :)