You reach a certain age and you start knotting bracelets. Then you reach another age and you stop. But it’s not just kids and it’s not just in America. When my son and daughter-in-law Michael and Rita returned from a trip to Thailand, they each had a collection of these colorful bracelets on their arms that they had purchased from some of the natives in the hills. They were beautiful and they wore them until they dropped off. That’s what’s supposed to happen.
Knotting threads is just another form of macrame that many of you did a number of years ago, but then we used heavy cording instead of thread and made plant hangers and owls. Any bracelets were usually made with hemp or waxed thread.
It was those facts and those memories that made me remember how much I enjoyed doing all that knotting; so as rusty as I was, that’s what today’s project was all about.
The exact materials you will need are not exact. You can substitute and change whatever and wherever you decide to. For the bracelets I used crochet thread (it comes in different weights), cording or embroidery floss. If using embroidery floss, use all six strands as one. Hemp is also used a lot and most craft stores now carry it in a variety of colors.
For a working surface you can use a sturdy pillow such as a sofa pillow or cushion. I used a small cork bulletin board. The kitchen counter will work if you would rather stand. Or sit at the kitchen table or a work table. You will also need T pins and/or tape.
If you’ve not knotted before, then PRACTICE is what you really should do before cutting the threads for a bracelet. Once you get the hang of it, you’re on your own.
Practice is for more than just getting your knotting to look even. It will also give you a chance to see what kind of a look you get from the different threads or cords and how many strands you will want to use. Note: Yarn is not recommended as it is too stretchy.
Cut four 1-yard lengths of medium- to heavy-weight crochet thread. Knot them together at one end.

Place the knotted together strands on your work surface. If you are working on a counter top or table top, use a good strong tape to tape them to the surface. Place the tape below the knot. If working on a cork board, you can stick a T pin through the knot to hold it. If working on a pillow, you can secure your work with a safety pin. I prefer a table top.
The two outside strands will be the working strands. The inside strands will be the holding strands. No matter how many cords you are using, the ones that do the knotting are the working strands and the others are the holding strands. The holding strands will not change in length. Only the working strands will get shorter.

The first knot I demonstrated is one most of us learned in grade school — the square knot. When working on a hard surface, I find it helps to place a small item such as a piece of wood or a small box or even a pad of Post-it notes under the holding strands, because you need to pull the working strands under them at every knot. The inserted item will hold the strands up off of the work surface so you can slip the working strands under them instead of having to pick them up every time.

Starting on the left, pick up the outside strand (the working thread) and tie a knot in the end of it. This will be cord A. The knot in the end will help you remember. The outside cord on the right will be cord B.
1. Pick up the end of cord A and bring it OVER the holding cords and UNDER cord B.

2. Pull on the ends of both cords to pull the half knot up to the knot at the top.

3. Pick up the end of cord B and bring it under the holding cords and over cord A.

4. Pull on the ends to bring the second half of the knot up to the top. You have completed one square knot.

5. Repeat the above over and over … starting with A go over and under, and with B go under and over. Keep repeating until you run out of space on the holding cords. They should be covered with square knots.

Try the above with different threads and different colors. If you are using rather thin thread or cording, you might want to have a bunch of holding cords to make it fatter.
Try using two different colors alternating the colors, red, black, red, black. See what happens if you use red for the two outside cords and black in the middle. It doesn’t work, does it?

Square Knot Bracelet
When you are ready to make a bracelet, determine how long a bracelet you will need to go around your wrist. Multiply that measurement by 9. Example: If your wrist measures 7 inches, you will need to use cords that are 63 inches long.
To make a loop at one end of the bracelet, find the center of all of the cords and tape them to the table top. Place the tape about 1 inch above the center.
Make square knots for about 1-1/2 inch.

Remove the tape and bring both of the ends of the length of square knots together. Tape to the table to hold. You will now have eight lengths of cording and a loop at the top. The loop will be the fastener to hold the button or whatever you put at the other end of your bracelet.
Continue making square knots using all eight cords. Use the two outer cords as working cords and the center six cords as the holding cords.
Note: Any time you are working this kind of a knotted strand and you discover that the working cords are not going to be long enough, you can change them out with two of the holding cords. Be sure to do this before you get to the end of the working cords.
When the bracelet is the desired length, you can knot the ends of the cords into one knot large enough to act as a button to go through the loop, or you can sew a button to the end. Any time you knot the ends and cut the strands off, coat the cut ends with clear glue.

Adding Beads
To add beads along the outside of the bracelet, string a bead on each of the outside (working) threads and push them up as far as they will go. Continue to make square knots. Add two more beads in this manner as frequently as you want to add beads.
To add beads to the center of the strand, string the beads on the holding cords. If you have four strands of thread, all four threads will have to go through the bead.
Another Pattern
I’m sure that this pattern has a name, but I don’t know what it is. I do know that it couldn’t be easier. Depending on the kind of cording you use and how many strands you use, you can make very narrow bracelets or very wide ones. I also made several pair of shoe laces using embroidery floss and napkin rings with glossy heavy-duty crochet cording.
Basic Knot
To practice use three different colors of crochet thread or embroidery floss: Cut TWO 1-yard lengths of each color and knot them all together at one end.
Pin the knot to your board or pillow or tape it to a flat work surface and separate all of the strands so they are slightly fanned out on the work surface. You can alternate the colors 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 or 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3.

Pick up the first strand on the left (1A) and bring it over, then under, then over the strand next to it. (1B). Keep the bottom thread taut and pull on the tying thread (1A) until the knot is as far up as it can go. Repeat the process using the same two strands. You will have a double knot on 1B.

Still holding 1A in your left hand, move on to the next strand and repeat the double knotting. Do the same with the remaining strands, always making two knots on each strand.
When you complete the row, start at the left again and repeat the procedure. This time your tying strand will be 1B. Continue in this manner always starting at the left and ending on the right (see notes) until knotted piece is as long as desired.
Finish off with an overhand knot.
Notes:
Our directions have you always starting on the left and moving to the right. You may prefer to work from right to left. Whichever direction you select, be sure to be consistent.
Do not examine your work too closely until you have completed several rows. It always looks like nothing for the first few rows.
Keep moving the tape down so that it is just above the knotting.
Making a Bracelet, Shoelaces or Napkin Ring.
To make a bracelet, select anywhere from four to a dozen threads to work with. If using embroidery thread, count each strand of six threads as one strand. I recommend using two of these six-thread strands as one. For a starter bracelet about 1/4 inch wide, cut 12 strands about 72 inches long and use them as six strands, positioning them as follows: two strands of color #1, two strands of color #2, and two strands of color #3.
1. Knot all strands together about 1 inch from one end. Divide into three strands and braid for about 3 inches. Knot all strands together again.
2. Start knotting the strands as described for desired length. Finish off with a knot.
3. Divide the six strands into three strands and braid for about 3 inches. Knot all strands together and cut off about 1 inch from the knot.
4. Wrap the bracelet on your wrist and tie to hold.
The same basic directions apply for making a napkin ring, but in this case use larger cording and leave longer strands after the knot at each end. I used 12 strands of glossy heavy-duty crochet thread.
Shoelaces
Materials:
6 pkgs. embroidery floss (three different colors, two pkgs. of each color)
3 small pieces of cardboard (approximately 1-1/2″ x 2″)
Steps:
1. Unwind one package of floss in each color, cut in half and hold the two lengths together to use as one strand.
2. Use the cardboard pieces as bobbins. Cut a small slit along one edge of each piece and wrap with one color floss. Secure the end in the slit.
For the shoelaces, I again used two strands of six threads as one knotting cord. For the red, white and blue shoelaces, I knotted the strands together about 1 inch down from the ends and pulled the knot into the smallest knot possible. After knotting the entire length of the shoelace (mine are 40 inches), I again knotted the strands together and cut the threads about 1 inch beyond the knot. The extending strands at each end I wrapped tightly in a short piece of cellophane tape; then cut off any extending ends. This makes them easy to lace.