Hey, so if anyone sees this or is going to do this pattern, as you can see in the photo I put up there, the pattern isn't meant to have loose strings hanging out. You just have to pull tight and not leave strings out in order to get to how the pattern is supposed to look. By all means, you can do whatever you want with this pattern. I got this pattern from a really old friendship bracelet book that I have, so I just wanted to put it on a website. Have a great day 😊