You can never have too much macrame, right?

Look what else you can make with macrame!
Look, look!

Fabulous colourful plant hangers by Rustic Blue 9.
You can see more of Susan's knotty work of her facebook page.

pot hangers by Rustic Blue 9

Here are the cutest little dolls made with recycled tshirts.
You can find out how to make them on Between the Lines blog.

puppets by Between the Lines

I just adore these lampshades by Sally England.

chandeliers by Sally England

Oh my word!
Look at this fabulous chair.
You can have one too - made to order by Majik Horse on etsy.

swing chair by Majikhorse

Or why stop at that?
Get a canopy bed as well!

bed canopy

Oh no, sorry.
It looks like you have to make your own but you can buy the pattern book from grammysyarngarden on etsy.

Maybe this is a bit more achievable -

something to do with shells.

Something to do with all those shells that the kids collect on holiday.
I found it on pinterest and the tutorial is supposed to be here, but I couldn't find it.

And last but not least - or maybe it covers the least!

found on babefart blog

Um, couldn't get any info on this one, but it's probably in some 70's craft book somewhere!

Are you inspired?

Anyone for Macrame?

Who remembers macrame?
Me me me!
I remember pot holders made of macrame (the hanging plant pot holders - not the ones you use to hot cooking pots!) and maybe belts - they were a very 70's thing weren't they?

Now macrame is making a come-back and I am especially liking macrame jewellery - it's bright and fun and funky, from simple little bracelets -

orange bracelet by alexandrajewelryshop

irish knot bracelet by elwynjewelry

To amazingly complex creations incorporating gemstones and other beads -

macrame necklace by mabutirit

I'm very taken by these sweet little czech glass earrings -

beaded macrame earrings by glassdancer

The possibilities for macrame jewellery seem endless!

blue bead macrame bracelet by spiritysol

butterfly necklace by spiritysol

Would you like to try it?
Here's a nice simple tutorial for a beaded bracelet - shamballa bracelet on youtube.

Or something a whole lot more complex - but very effective, by beading4perfection also on youtube.

There is a whole site dedicated to macrame patterns (of course there is!) - free macrame patterns.
I was just blown away by the number of different knots there are. It is fascinating.

Making jewellery using macrame is also called micro-macrame, because you use finer threads.

According to wikipedia macrame has been around since the13th century and was first of all used by Arab weavers to make decorative bits and bobs.
It was also a popular craft amongst sailors - something to do during all those long boring days at sea! They used to make hammocks with it, so that was pretty useful.

So - off I go to find some long bits of thread and knot, knot knot away!