Micro Mac.....

OK. Yesterday, Kathi asked if I had done a tutorial on a mini macrame plant hanger. I can't say that I have and I probably won't do a complete one on the blog. There are too many websites with good explanations on how to do it. I will give you a couple of basic knots and then a website that can actually teach you how to do it right.

Here is the lark's head knot that I used at the top of the plant hanger to attach it to the ring. That is how you start.

For the one that Tessie is holding in the last photo, I needed twelve cords. Basically, it is a three stranded hanger. Four threads for each strand. In the demo photos I am using #5 crochet thread....For the real thing, I went down to #20. That would be hard for you to see.

For the lark's head, you simply divide the thread in two and fold the resulting loop over the ring. For demo purposes, I used a tatting needle. Then you pull the ends up through the loop and tighten them down.

The second knot that you need for this is a plain old square knot, but it is tied over two filler cords, so you are working with four threads. The left thread goes across the front of the other cords and then the right cord goes under that and over the two center cords and down through the left loop. That is the first half of the square knot.

The second step is to pull the left cord under the other three and the right cord goes under that, over the two center cords and down through the left loop. When you pull everything up tight, you should have a square knot, tied around the two center cords.

The part on the hanger that I am showing you that is a spiral is simply the first half of that knot tied over and over again. If you tie the first half of the knot, the spiral goes in one direction. If you tie the second half it goes in the other direction.

When you get down towards the bottom, you will want to connect things....You simply take two cords from one knot and the two closest cords in the knot beside it and tie a square knot, using those four threads.

I have a feeling that this is all going to be as clear as mud to you. Therefore, I will send you to this website for clarification if you haven't done this before.http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/learn-macrame.html

This site not only has clear instructions and better illustrations than I could give here, but it also has lots of free patterns. Some of their plant hangers are easier and some are harder. They have lots of patterns for other things too.

Anyway, Here goes on the pattern instructions for the one pictured. I wrapped a quarter inch jump ring with thread. That step isn't necessary if you don't want to mess with it.

Then I cut 6 pieces of #20 crochet cotton about a yard and a half long, each. I doubled these and lark's head knotted them to the ring. That gave me 12 working threads.

Divided into three groups of four, I did 10 square knots in each. Then I strung a small wooden bead onto the two center threads of each group. I then did 20 first half square knots in each group, making a spiral section.

I added another wooden bead to the center filler cords of each group. Then I did another 10 square knots on each group.

Now comes the fun part. Keeping them straight so that the two threads from one were adjacent to the next two, I tied three square knots, about 1/2" down, between the preceding lines, making a Y between the columns.

The last step was to carefully gather all of the threads together evenly at the bottom and tie an overhand knot in them. Trim the tassel straight across with sharp scissors, pop in a pot and hang!

This can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. I have done these with size 5 or smaller pearl cotton or larger crochet thread. Beads or no beads.

About the simplest one you can make is gathering all 6 threads into one lark's head knot over the ring, tying single square knots alternating about an inch apart 3 or four times, and an overhand knot in the bottom.

Play with it and have fun. Do go look at the diagrams on that website. Much better than mine. And look around the site at their patterns. Lots of ideas!

See you tomorrow.