Oval smileys // Base strings
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5torr
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by 5torr
Hi, I'm new to alphas and in general I'm doing fine with the knotting itself (been doing normal friendship bracelets for many years), but the final result looks a bit stretched, like a smiley that is perfectly round in the pattern, in my bracelet it looks like I grabbed it by the ears and pulled on both sides until it got a little oval. I've tried several things to fix this, like pushing up every row of knots with a bone folder, knotting tighter, knotting loser, first knot tighter than the second, second knot tighter than the first, but in the end all my tries didn't change the final result. Yesterday I came up with an idea: What if I used thicker base strings? This far I'm using embroidery floss for both, base strings and knotting. But if I used a slightly thicker base string, my knots should be as high as usual but broader and end up in a perfectly round smiley. Theoretically. Has anyone of you ever tried this? In case of yes, what did you use in combination with embroidery floss to give a perfect result?
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onarts_
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by onarts_
That is usually what people do! You can also use two strings as one base string if you don't have thicker string
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onarts_
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by onarts_
Most people use crpchet thread as the thicker string
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onarts_
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by onarts_
I meant crochet, sorry
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stormii
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by stormii
I usually use crochet thread (size 3 works well) for base strings, it's cheaper and thicker than embroidery floss. I'm not sure if it would help your problem (I've never had that problem, but I have made very few alphas), but a lot of people prefer crochet thread to embroidery floss because its cheaper, it comes in bulk, and its provides a nice base for your alpha.
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kmonkey
Professional
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3 years, 8 months ago by kmonkey
Yes, I use a thicker crochet thread that works really well. They are also more sturdy, so I can tug around and mess with them more without worrying they will snap
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5torr
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by 5torr
Thanks for your answers, I'll give it a try as soon as I'm finished with the bracelet that's in work (a simple pattern where it doesn't matter if it's stretched a bit). So many new possibilities... I'm definitely looking forward to it! 😄
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5torr
Bracelet King
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3 years, 8 months ago by 5torr
Just a little update in case that somebody stumbles upon this because of the same problem:Smileys get perfectly round when the base strings consist of TWO threads of embroidery floss and when I don't push up the knots after every row. I knot like,5, 6 or 7 rows and then I take those rows between my thumb and index finger and push them very carefully a tiny bit upwards and that's it. Pushing up every single row results in tall, thin smileys. I guess it should be possible to use one thicker thread of yarn instead of two threads of embroidery floss, but I haven't found the right size, yet. My ruler tells me that embroidery floss is 1mm, so from a logical point of view 2 threads of embroidery floss should be 2 mm but 2mm crocheting yarn is waaaay too thick. |
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