Macrame

One of the most beautiful and, at the same time, protozoatypes of needlework - it's macrame. Macrame is a special technique of weaving various products from decorative nodules. In the technique of macrame, you can make various panels, pots, lampshades, bags and jewelry.

The history of macrame originatesdeep into the centuries, because when a man invented a thread, he invented his first knot to connect the ends of the thread. Later, even a special nodule letter appeared: with the help of various nodules people collected and stored information.

The most skilled masters of macrame for a long timewere sailors, because it is the sea knots that differ in their complexity and "cunning". In a distant voyage during leisure hours, sailors entertained themselves by weaving knots of various knick-knacks or decorating their knives, coulombs, and talismans with knots.

Since the 20-ies of the twentieth century, the art of macramewide popularity and becomes very fashionable hobby. To date, anyone can take care of macrame, because the tools and materials for it are very simple and accessible.

Weave macrame from virtually any filament, the main thing is that they are well twisted. Also for the weaving will need scissors, a comfortable foam pad, a few pins.

For more complex weaving, we may also need weights (for pulling and leveling), knitting hooks, a thin spoke or an awl in order to unravel the wrongly executed knots.

To start practicing macrame, it is not necessary to immediately learn all possible knots: combinations of just 2-3 simple knots allow you to get beautiful products.

Begins plaiting of any product with fastening threads. If it is not required to fix the threads on any basis, then it is enough to pin the working threads to the pillow with the help of pins (behind the middle).

If the product uses a substrate, for example,bar or ring, then the working threads must be fixed on this basis. Also, as a basis, a thread-base, which is made of the same material as the working threads, and slightly longer than them, can act.

The easiest way to fix the threads to the baseis as follows. The working thread should be bent in half and put on a base, for example, on a pencil. Further, it is necessary to bend the loop for the base and pass the ends of the working thread into this loop. It only remains to tighten the ends of the thread.

Basic macrame nodes

One of the first macrame nodes to be mastered is single flat knots. Single flat nodes can be left and right.

To make a single flat knot, you need to fix four threads on the base or on the cushion. The two extreme ones will be workers, but the two central ones do not participate in the weaving.

The leftmost thread must be taken to the right, at right angles, over two central threads - a loop similar to the number "4" is obtained.

The rightmost thread should be covered with a left thread, turn the right thread to the left under two central threads and thread it from the bottom up into the loop. Tighten the assembly by holding the central, non-working threads.

The left single flat knot is ready. If we repeat in the "mirror image" the above-described actions, beginning with the right extreme thread, the result is a right single flat knot.

Continuing to weave only left or right flatnodes, you can get a chain, twisted accordingly left or right, - a twisted chain. If you alternate the right and left nodes with each other, you can get another kind of chain - a square chain.