Trying Out Macrame
A lot of weavers in the fiber art community also are very into macrame. A lot of people even weave in their macrame or add macrame to weaving! Its very cool. I have been interested in trying out macrame for quite a bit now but I have been intimidated by the process. I also have had such a hard time getting the materials, the rope I wanted to use was completely sold out everywhere!! So, I ended up using a much thinner rope that I randomly found at Michael’s, which was completely fine for learning but now that I have a bit of the hang of it, I would like to use some of the thicker cotton cord.
I used this video to teach me how to make this semi circle macrame pattern. I felt that she was SUPER great at explaining and also moving slow enough for me to completely follow. She even talks you through how to make the knots for first time macrame makers like myself! I found that it was super easy for me to follow and I never got discouraged, though I did watch it like 6 times and paused or rewound it like 100 times. LOL. I also really struggled with the Double Half Hitch Knots, so i used this video to help me. Start it at around 2:50!
When it comes to learning a new skill of any kind, I like to “Tim Gunn” the experience and Make It Work. Seriously, even if I am making a pizza or something and it isn’t working out, I tell myself to make it work, to make the best of it and figure it out. I feel that mindset often comes into my art work because there are of course messes that I constantly make. I really try not to let them upset me or let them discourage me from engaging in a process that could end up being super fun and awesome!
I felt that way a lot during this process, I was paying so close attention to how I was feeling and making sure that I did not let the complexity of the project or the fact that I had never done macrame before get in my way! I stayed as relaxed as possible and just let the video really guide me and kept reminding myself that “I am not an expert and everything.” In fact I am not an expert at most things and that is okay! It is super hard for anyone really to learn something new. It can be a very humbling experience to give yourself the compassion to sit and learn something that you had never tried out before. I can say for myself it took me a while to bite the bullet and start taking a weaving class, after weaving for so many years. Sometimes I feel like I am less than because I don’t know how to do something, but when I allow myself to take a step back and realize that I wasn’t born knowing everything the process is a lot easier.
TL:DR- I might be spewing a lot of nonsense here, but what I am trying to say is that I tried macrame, it was super rad and I learned about the process as well as myself. Just because you don’t know how to do something, doesn’t mean that you can’t learn!