Frequently asked questions

Our ranking system is automatic, and it takes a lot of parameters into account. You can rank up even by just using the website, but if you'd like to make it quicker, definitely try adding some valuable content to the site, and helping out the community. Those are definitely things that will help you rank up a lot faster.

We have a pretty extensive set of rules when it comes to choosing a new moderator to the website. The first step in the right direction is you getting noticed by one of the members of our team for being helpful to the community for an extensive period of time, or having a great profile with a lot of great patterns, photos, etc. It also helps a lot if you're a long-time user, or a well known member of the community and are tying bracelets for a longer period of time. If you'll get noticed, you'll be added to the list of potential moderators, which we always use when looking for a new addition. All our admins and moderators then get a chance to vote for one or more users from that list, and the winner then has the opportunity to join our team.

There's a Forgotten password section on the site where you can create a new password if you have access to the email address your account is using.

We're really sorry about it, but it's not currently possible to change your username because of some technical limitations on our side. We definitely are planning on making it possible in the future, but it will take us some time, as the task is pretty complex.

To report a user for breaking one of the site's rules, message one of the Moderators or Super Moderators. The more proof you have of an incident, such as screenshots, the quicker the reporting process can proceed (but even if you don't have screenshots, we still encourage you to report). If you're able to send screenshots, have an email address ready that you don't mind using to send them to one of us. If the incident has happened publicly, such as in the chat, comments, or in the forum, you can just tag the mods/supermods to respond. We are all connected, and each report gets recorded and shared among all the mods/supermods/admin, so it's only necessary to send a private message report to one of us, with the exception of an emergency.

If you already have an account, it's always better to write us a direct message. You can find the members of our team on the Users page by selecting rank Moderator, Super Moderator or Administrator. If you don't have an account yet, you can use the Contact form.

The app is a limited version of the website that is designed to be used on the go. Due to that some features are only available on the website, but not the app. To access those features, you need to go to the BraceletBook website. You can do that on a computer but also on your phone.

You can learn how to read patterns on the Tutorials page. We have also prepared tutorial videos for you in collaboration with MashaKnots. You can find them near the pattern images when you open up any pattern on the website.

It differs from pattern to pattern, and the desired bracelet length.

For a normal bracelet 1m per string is usually enough, but strings that you make more knots with are used up faster than ones that you make less knots with, so for some strings it makes sense to cut them longer or shorter than 1m. If you run out of string or your string breaks, you can insert a new string with a similar technique to what you would use for a color switch in an alpha. Alex's Innovations has a video in which she explains how to replace broken strings that can be used when you run out of string or your string breaks.

In alphas there are two different string types: base strings and leading strings. Since you usually only knot onto the base strings they only need to be the length of the bracelet plus some extra for loops and ties. For leading strings, it depends on the material used and how tight you knot. If you have made an alpha before, you can meassure how long 10 rows are in your bracelet and use that to calculate how much base string you need in a specific pattern. Leading strings are more difficult to estimate and get used up faster because they usually make all the knots. Most people will just leave them on the skein while knotting and cut them in the end.

You might have noticed that in some of the older patterns the strings don't match. To continue knotting these patterns once you have reached the bottom, you start over at the top and ignore the colors in the pattern. The knots you need to do are still the same, only the colors have changed.

All alpha patterns show an amount of strings that is one string higher than the amount of base strings because it counts one leading string in addition to the base strings.

Segment tying and tying row-by-row are two different bracelet tying techniques used to make bracelets. To tie row-by-row means to quite literally start from the very first knot of the first row, and work your way left-to-right, one knot at a time, in order, like the way you read words in a book. Segment tying involves tying knots diagonally (northeast to southwest, and northwest to southeast) in groups of the same colors. For example, to tie pattern #2, you might want to segment knot by tying diagonally in order of each color in a "V" shape. To better understand segment tying, look up, "how to segment knot" on YouTube. Row-by-row is recommended for beginners because it's easier to understand, while segment tying is faster, but is a bit less intuitive and requires a little bit more experience.

To search for a specific pattern, go to the Patterns page. Use the "keywords" field to enter one or more words that describe the pattern you are looking for. For example if you are looking for a pattern with a cat in it, you can enter the word "cat" in "keywords".

To do a more specific search you can pick the pattern type (alpha, normal or both), amount of strings and amount of colors of the pattern you are looking for. You can also add a username in "added by user" to only see patterns created by that user.

If you know the pattern number, you can search for the pattern using the „pattern #" field.

If a pattern has been deleted, the ID it had is missing now, and that's where the gaps come from.

There are 2 kinds of challenges on BraceletBook - official challenges and community challenges. For each challenge, the user creating it picks patterns which will be included. The point is picking one of those patterns, making a bracelet, and adding a photo of it. There are no rewards for the community challenges, but for our official ones, you will get a reward which will be displayed in your profile. Remember you have to tag your photos with a 'Challenge' sign in order to receive this reward.

All the challenges are taking place in our forums. We have a separate thread for them, so when you open up the forums, just click on 'Challenges' and pick any challenge you'd like to participate in.

To keep this place nice and clean, all the content you add goes thru the review process before appearing on the website. One of the administrators or moderators has to take a look at it and consider if it can be posted. The review process for each section is a bit different, but if your item gets declined, you'll be informed why.

After creating an account and logging in, go to the Create patterns section where you can use the generators. Creating and adding patterns is currently possible only on the website.

In the "colors used" section of the pattern generator, you can tap on one of the boxes. You can change the color codes by typing a combination of six numbers and letters, or you can use the color tool to change the shades and hues of your colors by dragging around the circle and sliding the color meter. To add another color, select an empty box and repeat these instructions. Be sure to add your new color to your pattern or variation before leaving the page - for normal patterns and variations, you can alter the string order to add more colors, or use the interactive normal generator to tap on different strings with your new color. For alpha variations, you cannot add new colors, although you can alter them. After adding new colors, be sure to select "save & test".

Generally for patterns, it's best to avoid colors that do not make the grid lines clearly visible. This makes it easier for users to tie patterns. Currently, the lowest black alternative that does not set off the generator warning is #262626. However, if there is a particular reason you would like to go a bit darker, such as if you're trying to make a gray scale variation, you're free to communicate to us your reasoning in the "review notes".

In order to submit a pattern, there must be no yellow warnings at the top of the generator. You can remove the yellow warnings by reading the warnings and adjusting your pattern accordingly.

When you submit your pattern for a review, it is moved from your 'Create patterns' section to the administration section of the website, where moderators can take a look at it. It will then either get posted to the website (if accepted), or moved back to your 'Create patterns' section (if declined).

The review time depends on the activity of the moderators on certain days and how many patterns are currently waiting to be reviewed. On average, expect your pattern to be reviewed within 24 hours. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to view your pattern on the site before it is reviewed. You may, however, screenshot your pattern, so you still have access to it while you're waiting for it to be reviewed.

Your pattern drafts - Hover or tap on your username and select Create patterns. This will take you to a designated place where your unpublished patterns and variations are saved. Your declined pattern should be located here once again. Select your declined pattern. You can view your decline message above the colors and generator warnings where it says, "Decline message:".

No, there's no way for you to edit your patterns once they are posted to the site.

No, but you can contact an admin who will do this for you. We prefer not to delete patterns, because someone might have started tying them or have already added them to their to-do list.

If the generator doesn't generate your pattern, the reason is always shown on the top of the page.

Photos are always uploaded for a specific pattern, so find the pattern and open it up. Once you have that done, there's an 'Add a Photo' button in the top section of the website. On the iOS app, look for a '+' button in the upper right corner instead.

As of now, users are unable to manually delete their own photos. However, you may privately message a moderator, specifying which photos you would like deleted, and they will ask the Admin to delete the photos for you.

Adding tutorials to the site is possible, but the process is a little bit more difficult than adding all the other content. If you'd like to add one, you first have to prepare it in a word document or a pdf. It would be great if it follows the same structure that our current tutorials have. They're divided into steps, and each step can contain an image/video, title, and text. After all of this is done, and your tutorial is ready, just can send it to us via email. If you don't have our email address yet, please contact an admin to obtain it. Also please don't forget to mention your username, and how difficult you consider your tutorial to be. After receiving your tutorial, our moderators will take a look on it, and if everything's fine, it will be posted to the site.

To learn everything about our review process, and how you should prepare your content to get approved to the site, check out the Review guidelines page.