My Progress and Thoughts

Tuesday (November 1st): I started my friendship bracelet. I got almost none of it done because the white thread was tangled something fierce... Neither Mrs. Washburn nor Brittany could get it untangled. Evenutally, I just ended up cutting the knot out and using the pieces. It was then that I was reminded just how easily the threads could get tangled. I got quite frustrated, truth be told. I barely finished the first green section today.

Wednesday (November 2nd): Today, I continued my friendship bracelet. I just finished my first "flag" (1 set of 3 colors designed to look like the Irish flag). I was given my first glimpse into one big mistake I made. One, this bracelet is both awesome and annoying at the same time due to its size. Because it's a twelve string bracelet, it's taking forever to complete. On the other hand, being so large, the bracelet truly shows the "flags" well and makes it look nice.

Thursday (November 3rd): Continuing work on my bracelet has lead to a depressing development. Originally, I wanted my bracelet to zig-zag so that it would look like this:

 That way, each flag could be ended nicely and you could really see the "flags" as flags. However, when I attempted this new pattern, I failed beyond belief... This has caused me to revert back to the pattern that I know. I'll have to try to zig-zag my bracelet again some other time.

Friday (November 4th): I don't really have anything new to report. I continued making my bracelet with machine-like efficiency. I finished the flag I started yesterday. That makes my second "flag" of this bracelet. It looks quite good, quite good indeed! I'm rather pleased.

Monday (November 7th): Today I worked even more on the bracelet. I finished the about three-fourths of the next flag. Excessive socializing has lead to a decrease in my productivity (shocking, I know) but I'm having fun, so it's worth it. I have plenty of time to finish my bracelet anyway. In a way, today was quite refreshing. I've been getting so aggravated with how slow my bracelet was progressing, but this lightened atmosphere helped to get rid of some of that aggravation.

Tuesday (November 8th): Today was quite productive. I finished the other fourth of the flag from yesterday as well as a whole other one. That puts me at three flags right now. I can see this bracelet coming together.

 

Wednesday (November 9th): So, Mikey saw my bracelet and wants to have it after I'm finished with the project! I have been working on this bracelet for about a week and I now have about 4 and one-third flags. I can probably stop at about 8 flags since he wants to be able to slip it on and off. That means I'm about half way done. That is a pretty good milestone. I'm quite pleased. Here's a picture of my bracelet at four flags:

Thursday (November 10th): Today was utterly ridiculous! I managed to weave about one and a half flags!

Friday (November 11th): If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that I didn't work on my bracelet at all today. I got a new video game, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and I've been playing it all day. I'll be sure to finish my bracelet before class on Monday, don't worry.

Saturday (November 12th): I didn't get to the bracelet today either. Skyrim is incredibly awesome, addicting in fact! I'll finish my bracelet tomorrow.

Sunday (November 13th): After several hours playing Skyrim, I finally finished my bracelet! It looks really good too! It's got 7 flags and is about 8 and a half inches long. It looks like this:

Looking back, I can see just how far I've progressed from my first bracelet that I did like this. Originally, I only made what are called "Chinese Staircase" bracelets that were cylindrical and extremely easy. They looked something like this:

I could make one of those in about an hour. Then, I was told how to do these more complicated ones. At first, my laziness won out and I didn't want to do something that would take me HOURS to complete. However, I ended up thinking about it and realized that if I were to actually make one for a friend, and not just make them for something to do, the more complicated bracelets would probably mean more. I still have a lot to learn. I still can't make them perfectly, there are always hints of the other colors that come through in the wrong spots, but in time, I'll master it. So for now, I must hone my technique through several hours of practice and bracelet making. However, one day, I will be able to make these perfectly and move on to make myself a panda bracelet! :D Here are some pictures of ones that I found and am pretty excited about:

I'm also thinking about just making a bamboo bracelet. I can do that now by using the method I already know, so that might be my next project.