I decided I wanted to do macrame and I ordered a kit. I should’ve known from the online reviews not to get it, but I never learn anything the easy way. The comments said the directions were confusing. I’m a knitter and very good at reading directions so I figured those reviewers just weren’t as adept. I assumed I’d be fine. Boy, was I wrong. It has now been several months since I tackled the kit and I still haven’t finished it.
Instead, I bought three beginning macrame books and set out to learn the basic knots from people who, hopefully, had done a better job of explaining them. The books couldn’t have been more different. One used beige yarn on a beige background. At 70 years old, I found myself squinting too much and decided to try another book. The second one had an interesting but, for me, incomprehensible method of teaching the knots. I’m convinced I was looking at Greek mosaic floor tiles. How the hell do you make something out of that?
But the third book was perfect. As you can see, the explanations were precise and broken down into manageable snippets.
Or maybe that’s just the way my brain works and someone else would see spaghetti strands and revert to the book with the Greek tiles. To each his own.
Once I practiced these a few times, I was ready to settle on a project.
I tackled the issues of how much yarn to use, how big the ring needed to be, what size cord to order and how to tighten knots when the whole project was free-floating in my lap. And, of course, there are my two cats who love dangling strings.
I finally decided to look at this as a learning project and give myself some slack if things went south. I found a pattern I liked but I made some alterations along the way. I’m sure I could’ve finished this in a couple of hours but it ended up taking me a week. I picked a knot and a pattern I liked, decided how I wanted to alter it, and then literally completed one pattern each day.
It will be nice if I can learn to apply the macrame lessons to my writing projects. (1) The idea is to keep moving forward. (2) Mistakes can be fixed. (3) Who will know about those mistakes except me? (4) The sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort.
I also learned that the trickiest part of macrame was getting into a rhythm. Instead of focusing on the book pattern and replicating one step at a time, I needed to find the movement of each knot in my hands. Once I figured out the rhythm, they were simple and quick.
My next project is going to be feathers. I like the interest they add when used on large projects. Ultimately, I want to create a huge wall hanging to go in my bedroom. With that goal in mind, I’m trying different techniques to see which ones I like and which ones I can do without. And I’m learning how the thickness of the cord affects the final look.
So what do you think? Which of these should I tackle?
Lisa Browder 
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