bafnb

they/them

Not the most social being out there, so I doubt you'll see me much in the chat, but feel free to drop me a message (at your own risk of not getting a response ^^")


Just recently got back into making bracelets (as of writing (23 Sep '21) less than a week ago lol).
Got the string I ordered, so I'm ready to go~

10 Oct '21 Went to a quaint little store yesterday and got a handful of new threads, some to add missing colours, some to test out differences in brands/styles of threads and some just because they kinda look cool (including one that glows in the dark and I'm so excited about it!) I immediately started making my own wrapping cards from some boxes I had laying around and now all my threads are neatly wrapped up and stored in, of all things, an old, unused diskette sorter. Also just gave them a count, for now I am at 131 used wrapping cards, potentially including duplicates of colours from different brands.
24 Oct '21 I ordered the yarn-based colour catalogues from Anchor and DMC, as well as a printed one for Rico Design yarns. Might have overdone it a bit, but also feel pretty good about being able to check out the colours before ordering online, so I can make my perfect match-ups and combinations. (Got them yesterday 26 Oct '21 and they're soooo pretty!)

17 Nov '21 Got myself some long pieces of round wood in different thicknesses, to figure out what works best. Will have to cut them down for proper use though, as they were sold in 1m pieces at the hardware store.; I've been thinking about figuring out a way to properly calculate how much string one needs to make an alpha pattern. Wanna do a 28,000 knot wall hanging (no, I'm not overshooting my abilities. Well, maybe slightly. But I have a plan.) and will definitely need to buy some string beforehand, so that I don't run out in the middle and also to get the right colours. So yeah, having a way to approximate what I'll need will be a big help. Also thinking about making a tutorial on here, if I figure something out that works, but I really need to find a way to break it down in a way that doesn't only make sense for me, but also can go deep enough into detail to be applicable to different work styles and preferences.. We'll see.

02 Jan '22 Decided to re-wrap my threads, this time far more orderly. This might take a while >.>

16 Jan '22 After already re-wrapping them I decided to make it more uniform, so I've speant the last few days collecting cardboard of roughly the same thickness and carefully measuring out 2" x 3" cards, and both the "wells", where the threads will go, as well as the cuts for where I can secure them on all of the cards. It's a lot of work and I'll need to re-wrap them again, but it's gonna be worth it.

07 Feb '22 Finally done with all of them. From the first time, where I only loosely wrapped them without much of a pattern and they filled up my entire storage box, to using the same crooked cards with a better wrapping technique and only taking up 3/4, to now having them all uniformly wrapped, only taking up half of the box and also looking suuper neat~ Ahh, it was soo worth it. Wish there was a general image sharing feature so I could show it off.


Since people seem to explain, how they use their loves/to-do list, here's mine:
I'm currently working my way through the archives of this site, so I'm just keeping track of stuff I come across
Loves are designs that I like in general, either cause they're cute, cool, interesting, challenging, unusual, etc and just wanna keep track of, so I don't have to look through 3000+ pages of backlogs/try and find them through tags which especially with the older designs isn't reliable.
To-Dos are designs I really want to try out.
I've also planned to upload a picture of anything I finish using a design from here, so once I get around to that this would be my main M/O for tracking things I've already done. Since I'm unsure of the QA requirements for uploading pictures I'll be tracking them here, with some additional notes in case pictures don't get uploaded or as additional info.

Currently at (last page)-528



So far made bracelets using:

(Date Started) - (Date Finished) (Pattern #); (Notes below) --- Dates are in DD Month 'YY or DD.MM.YY
Ones that only have one date only have the date I finished them on, since I just now decided I want to include both dates. Also with a change in formatting I'll start including dates on notes so that the timeline makes a bit more sense. (change made 03.04.22)

20 Sep '21 #30500
Using old, mismatched strings I still had laying around from years ago.

22 Sep '21 #566
Using the Rico Design string I got; Trying out triangle ends. Didn't have a hang of how to keep knots straight. Also the black and white are differently thick, despite having the same thread count, so it's uneven and I ran out of a string in the end, so had to wing it a bit.

27 Sep '21 #9438
First time making an alpha bracelet. Instead of using the same thread as for knotting I just used a random black wool I had around. Works well imo, should take care to use a string of similar thickness. Started twice, the second time removing one thread from the green, because the variance in thickness made the design very uneven. Next time might even remove one more, because the black is way thinner than the other colours. Need to find a good alternative. Think I got a bit better at keeping the knots straight later on, it still turned out kinda wonky. Didn't expect my first alpha to be perfect anyways.

27 Sep '21 #2359
Rainbows are nice. It's more comfortable working with string, that is roughly the same size. Need to work on keeping my knots equal, but I think I'm nailing twisted ties.

17 Oct '21(/27 Sep '21) #45123
Another alpha and more rainbows. I tried separating the strings using the fine side of a comb to spread them evenly before taping them down and I think it worked out how I wanted. The comb also fits so perfectly, that I can use it to push rows back to make them tighter. Also I decided to use an effect-thread alongside my white (split the thread in half to keep similar thickness) for the stars to give them a bit of a sparkle. Only downside is, that it might be a bit uncomfortable to wear as a bracelet, if the effect thread rubs on skin too much.
Using two strings alongside each other is somewhat weird. Especially, since the glitter string is rather rigid, so it sticks out at points and I use a bit more of it over time (that actually was because I didn't take care to tighten both strings individually). Also the slightly different thickness of my white/glitter combo compared to my other strings makes the project slightly uneven around the edges, but it's not too bad overall.
One of my base strings broke. Managed to fix it going along, but kinda ruined it, when I tried pushing the knots closer together after finishing, and pushed the knots off the broken base string. So doing this again, I guess. At least I have proper lengths of string prepared now lol.
Actually had some leftover string, because I did tighter knots this time around, when compared to last time.

17 Oct '21 #4858(/change in knotting structure)
The pattern originally has two rows of colour C, however I only want one row in the middle, so I changed the 3rd know in row 4 from a fb- to a bf-knot. I still have some trouble keeping my knots the same size and tight enough, especially with backwards knots.

10 Oct '21 #6195(/change in knotting structure)
Changed the second-to- and last knots of row 11 from a B and BF to a F and FB to make the pattern fully symmetrical. Using pearl cotton for the first time, as well as some cute multicolour thread, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.
Got kinda wobbly overall. With normal patterns I kinda have the issue, that they get heavily tilted towards one side. Kinda managed to fix it later on, but that required some really odd fluctuations in knot tightness. I really need to practice normal patterns >.> Or focus mainly on alpha patterns lol

23 Oct '21 #44485 (sligth change in colours)
Doing this one for https://www.braceletbook.com/forum/9_challenges/24373_lgbtq-pride-challenge/#328521, though I'd been thinking about doing a pronoun bracelet anyways. After two normal bracelets I'm almost looking forward to doing an alpha again. Though I'll likely make it a bit shorter, since 100 rows is a bit too big to work as a wearable bracelet for me (went down to 80 and it's still kinda long lol). And maybe switch up the text colour a bit, because it's a bit too restless to look at for my taste. My change to black, even if it's an effect black, really only made the text somewhat hard to read in another way lol. But I had fun. Need to lose my love of effect stuff though; they usually have a different texture than regular embroidery thread and make it hard to keep everything consistent. I already noticed that with #45123.

14 Nov '21 #6241 (though not really. I'm changing the width and amount of colours, only really keeping the cheeta spots the same..)
Trying my hand at a wider alpha pattern. As I don't have any dowels laying around I used a 4 inch match stick with the head cut off.
Which didn't work out, as the matchstick snapped after around 7 rows. Luckily not that far in yet. And alphas are super easy to unravel, so that's a plus. Switched to an orange wood stick I had laying around instead. Those are pretty sturdy.
This was a long one. Done with the main part, just need to clean up the back and figure out what to do with the bottom.

16 Nov '21 #94335
Started a second project, because my other WIP is a gift and I was spending the weekend at the intended recipients place and didn't want to spoil it for them. Originally wanted to make #41090, but miscounted the base-strings I'd need when prepping at home and didn't take the wool I use for base strings, so couldn't adjust at my friend's place. Actually I did that twice, don't know what the other pattern was, but first had one too few and then one too many strings (which didn't work out, because I wanted to try an edge technique that requires me to have an even number of back strings)
Had trouble fixing this one onto my clipboard, might be a bit uneven. Should have done this from the bottom up. Kinda intended it to be usable as a bookmark, but I tried something to make the top row flush (no base strings obviously sticking out) so now I have the flat end at the top of the design. If I try this technique again, I'll have to do the pattern bottom to top. There's loads of patterns I'll have to flip to make in the way I want them anyways, so practice can't hurt.

13 Dec '21 #90358
Just wanted something to take with me while hanging out with people, so took two colours with me and this one is what my boredom landed on, basically.

26 July '22 #94779
This is going to be my largest pattern so far, as well as being from the top .1% of large patterns. It also is perfect to test out, if my alpha-thread-requirement calculation works out. That one actually took me like 10 hours to put together, since it requires counting colour switches and planning how to lead my thread beforehand, but it also helped me visualize the process and come up with another technique I want to try out. Placed an order for the string I calculated I'll need, though some wasn't in stock (or I ordered more than they had lol) so it'll take up to two weeks for the string to get here. It was a bit of a challenge to figure out, which colours to get, but I decided on a somewhat muted pallette, dark brown instead of black, ivory instead of stark white, muted reds and pinks instead of bright ones and a darker yellow and the colour charts really came in handy. I'll be using Anchor stranded cotton 24, 298, 324, 326*, 367, 382, 926 and 936.
This is gonna take a while. I need about 45 minutes for one row alone. I did however roll up the 8 meter threads onto a piece of cardboard, because I don't want to have string going everywhere (the 140 base strings are doing enough of that xD) and adding new 1 yard pieces every row would be impractical, so it's kinda weird to grip. Maybe practice will make working like this easier. Otherwise it's gonna take only like... 150 hours... Phew.
My dark red basically has no contrast to my light red, so I'll get a better match for those. Sadly the shop I get my embroidery floss from is closed currently, so this'll have to wait a while.
Finally got the new string I need, so I can finally continue this. Halleluja.
Getting faster. Only about 40 minutes per row, so only... 120 more hours..
"Oh no"-moment: When you want to continue your large knotting project, but also dug out the crochet blanket you've been working on for over a year and now that's interesting to do again as well.
03.04.22 - Almost 30% done. This is going places. Just a bit over 100 hours left and at my current pace will be done in pretty exactly 150 days. Even know whom I'm gonna give it to. It'll be a housewarming gift for them and a reason for me to go to Vienna.
09.04.22 Oh noes, made a mistake 6.5 rows ago and need to unravel and redo all of them T-T
10.04.22 After almost 3 hours of unravelling yesterday I really stepped it up and got one row further than when I made the mistake. Gosh, that was a lot of knotting today.
*originally 329
08.05.22 Woop woop, half way done!
12.06.22 3/4 down, I'm getting so close, this is great <3
26.07.22 Done with the actual knotting, now I just need to tidy it up some and give it a wash.
12.10.22 FINALLY DONE!* Though I was careless and didn't think something through >.> I recently dyed some embroidery floss using dusty dyes. Since the project was on the most accessible spot in my workspace, I also placed the open packets of dye on the project. When I washed it today, I didn't consider, that apparently some dye particles landed on the project. So when I washed it, the pigment activated and now it has spots all over... That's what they call character, I guess. Feels weird to be done with it after nearly a year... *Currently drying/pressing it, will tug on some strings from the back to make the colour changes less obvious on the front and cut off excess ends, glueing some things to the back, so it doesn't stick out on the sides and I'll need to figure out what to do with my base strings, but most of the work is done.

01 Mar '22 - [WIP] #13767
Another one I started to have something for on the go. Didn't really have a good dark green, so am instead using an olive tone. Hope I have enough of the respective colours... Just did a quick calculation and I'd likely need at least two skeins of the two greens, as well as the red, so I'll most likely run out at some point. The colours I'm using didn't even have colour numbers, so I'll have to check those against my Anchor/DMC references and hope they have proper colour matches within the Rico catalogue. At least they do provide a dupe guide..
Unravelled this one, because I'm not at all happy with the colours. As with the dark red for 94779 I'll get proper colours and amounts when the shop opens up again. Definitely gonna return to this though, especially since I already have prepared the base strings.
03.04.22 Been working on this while on public transport. Have been using some different threads as base strings, however they're a bit thicker than the ones I used so far, so consequently the knots are a bit bigger. Gonna remove the eye though, since a) I don't have a good blue/forgot to order one and b) didn't account for the larger knots in measuring out my base strings, so hoping 36 rows less will give me enough room to work with. Halfway done with the S in "Sad".

09 Jan '22 #15841
Using some of my old string while waiting on the other threads. Got into two repeats and decided to unravel, because I had left over a bit too much before the beginning. Unravelling takes so much longer than making the knots >.> But segement knotting really is quicker than doing it row-wise.

09 Jan '22 #5026
Made a variation for this one, but still switched it up, because I wanted to have a different colour order, but only noticed after submitting. The order I did this in starting out was black - yellow - purple - white. I don't really wear bracelets, but wanted to try if wearing an anklet would help me to not just stuff my finished projects into a box. Also I thnk segment knotting might not be the best technique for such small bracelets, at least for me.

25 Jan '22 #14535
The shop will begin shipping again tomorrow, however some of the things I ordered aren't in stock, so it might take a while. So I decided to start something else in between. Following my pattern of doing things that far outweigh my skill level, I'm both trying to use @beatlesall's patch tutorial and @mjlgvw's clean back alpha technique. I'm getting on alright with the former, though the latter is causing me some issues, since there's colour switches immediately next to each other. With the former I'm having some trouble with incorporating new base strings, both using bf/fb knots (flat edges style) and b/f knots (hoping the end of one row will be closer to the beginning of the next). Also I didn't properly fix my base strings down, so I accidentally pulled a few and had to straighten them out, though I haven't really been successful from what I can see through the extra tape I applied later on.
Glue's applied to the back, now I'm just waiting for it to dry. The edges aren't really as clean as I'd like, but for my first patch I think it's pretty good.

08 Feb '22 #112600
Ughh, it's so crooked T-T Need to work on my normal patterns.... But I guess I found a good string length for me. At least for regular bracelets 1 meter is just about right, so that I can do good end-strings and can account for the difference in usage between different colours.

14 Feb '22 # 83229
Still waiting on my stuff to continue 13767 and 94779, so another project to pass the time. Kinda looking forward to all the colour switches, that's gonna be great practice.
Made this a bookmark. Not that I have any use for bookmarks, but I thought it would be suited as one. I really didn't keep my tension straight going down.. The lower knots are far looser/bigger than the top ones. I think that might be related to having it on a clipboard and with having it on my lap I needed to work closer and closer to my stomach -> having an angle, where I can progressively apply less downward tension. I need to find a better way to do things. Maybe tape it further up, whenever I finished a few centimeters, so I can keep working at the same angle.

04 June '22 - [WIP] #123692
12.06.22 idk, just felt like doing a normal pattern. Really need to see, if I can apply my knot-counting echnique to normal patterns, since some of the black strings by now (abt half way done) are a good 4 inches shorter than some of the coloured strings.