Everything For Beginners
If you are a beginner, there are a few things to know before you get started.1. The 4 basic knots.
To make any friendship bracelet, you'll need to know the 4 basic knots. They appear in all of the bracelets. They are the Forward Knot, Backward Knot, Forward Backward Knot and the Backward Foward Knot. You should check on you tube, there are lots of great sources.
2. What to use for making bracelets
For every bracelet on this site, you can use string or embroidery floss, Leaving it nice and thin, with a crisper look. Some choose to use yarn, it makes the bracelet softer, and wont do well if you get it wet. You can find both of these at a local craft store, like Michael's or Joanne.
3. How to read patterns
If you look, there are a bunch of diagrams showing you how to make the bracelet. The things you need to know are; Always do two knots, or your work will twist, and you always work in rows and know the symbols for the knots. Like for example, The arrow slanting Right, is the Forward knot, the one slanting to the left is the backward knot. There is a great tutorial by zylvester that shows you how to do that.
4. The Generator
The generator is an awesome tool that lets you create your own patterns and learn how to make them. There are 3 types of generators:
Normal Pattern Generator
Generator 2
Alpha Generator BETA
For the normal pattern generator, you type in the amount of information it requires about the pattern like how many rows, knots, colors and so on. This generator is in Hex code. You then click generate and you can see your pattern. For generator this generator, it can be a little tricky. also in the generator, you can save your work for later progress. If your pattern ends up ending differently, you may need to change it, by pressing the change button. The alpha generator lets you create alpha patterns. You create the shape of the pattern you want with the code for your color you want. These patterns are usually used for names and such. For generator 2 it is very simple, you can design patterns with just a click! First the screen turns up with a bracelet pattern with 6 strings and is all yellow. To change the strings; you click the + on the left hand corner, and to subtract click the minus sign that is right next to the plus. To change color, you can click the top of the thread to change them, and PRESTO! you did it!
Patterns
There are 2 types of patterns: Regular and Alpha. Both of them are super easy to make and generate. The difference between these two patterns is that they have different knots and you learn how to make them a different way. Here is how to do a normal pattern. A normal pattern has a diagram. Here is an example of a diagram:
To read the diagram, use the colors at the top of the bracelet diagram. You should always pair up all the strings and always work side to side. NEVER WORK DIAGNOL. Then do the knowt. The right arrow is the foward knot, the left arrow is the backward knot, the zig zag arrow pointing to the left is a foward-backward knot, and the zigzag arrow pointing to the right is a backward-foward knot. The little triangles on the sides mean to leave the last two strings to the side and use different pairs. Hope that helps! :)
This girl has an exelent tutorial on doing the four basic knots in patterns.
Hope this helped
Please comment and tell me what i can do better
Editors
The original author of this tutorial is superc .
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