Make friendship bracelets

“There’s something indescribably cathartic about making a friendship bracelet: separating out the strings, looping one over the other, pulling them tight and repeating it all over again. Individual knots turn into rows, rows turn into designs and the whole thing quickly turns into a mindless practice. Before I know it, the strings have woven themselves into an intricate pattern.”

“However, a few hours later, I found myself searching “how to tie friendship bracelet knots,” and “how to read friendship bracelet patterns.” By that evening, I had watched at least five tutorial videos. I don’t know what initially compelled me to learn to make friendship bracelets. I wish I could give that particular day sentimental value, but I think I was fueled through pure teenage boredom.”

“In the end, with the help of some terrific additional volunteers from across the Redwoods team (thank you!), we brought 1,865 bracelets to the conference, and I personally made more than 500. My first bracelet took at least 90 minutes to make, as I watched The Golden Bachelor one night (Go Team Ellen!). This post is about how I honed my craft to the point where I was ultimately spending about 3.5 minutes per bracelet.”