Friendship bracelets - the easy way

Yesterday I was stuck up at home with a bunch of kids and I had to find imaginative ways to keep them entertained, since the bad weather barred outdoor activities and I didn't want to be responsible if they all came down with the flu.

Among other things, we made friendship bracelets but I needed to find a fast, easy way to get the bracelets done before the half a dozen six year olds were bored to death. So I remembered a technique my mom taught me a long time ago to make the ties for baby booties and decided to give it a try with crochet thread.

Then I decided that since I had to explain the process to them any way, I could easily make a small tutorial. Please apologize the quality of the pictures. By that time in the afternoon my husband had already abandoned ship (not that I think he would have really helped anyway), I needed both hands to hold the threads and I was not going to surrender the Ipad (which is not really mine) to any of those six-year olds.

Anyway, start by choosing several colors of cotton crochet threads and tying them in a knot.

Then cut a sufficient length of the threads (I eyeballed it, but since you will be rolling the threads up and then folding them in half I would say you need at least 50 centimeters).

Secure the knotted end of the threads in a way that allows you to freely move the threads around. I used the wire shelf below my ironing board, especially because it allowed for several kids to be doing the same thing at the same time, but tying them to a key (as long as the key does not come off the lock) or even sticking the ends inside a closed drawer works just fine.

Start rolling the thread in one direction

Until the end of the threads

Then fold the rolled up threads in half, with one hand holding the fold and the other the untied end of the threads (this is where picture taking became trickier)

Let the finger holding the threads by the fold go and both halves will roll up again automatically

Release the knotted end from wherever you were holding it

Tie a knot at whatever size you want the bracelet to be and cut any excess thread

After a while we had a bunch of them in different colors

I even made one for myself

Once you master the rolling up part, it does not take you more than a minute to make a bracelet. The downside? The kids made them so fast that I had to come up with something else to keep them busy.

See you around,
Teresa