Monday, March 07, 2011

TC's Newest

Hi Knitters,
TC has been a crafting busy bee. Her newest undertaking is making friendship bracelets amongst a few other things which I will share later. She has had a huge bag of embroidery floss for a long time. Neither of us can quite remember how she got all of that embroidery floss which is kind of funny. What I find so interesting about TC is how she studies and learns a new skill. I don't know what triggered the new obsession with friendship bracelets but she must have seen something somewhere.

She hopped on youtube and found a young girl who has an enormous series of tutorials on all kinds of stitches for these bracelets. She spent so much time studying and also writing out the step by step instructions for each of the patterns. Then she takes her written notes and goes from those to actually make the bracelet. I think the action of writing out the steps brings clarity for her so she can understand better.


With these bracelets you can even spell out names with lettering. There are stripes and chevron patterns, too. She has one bracelet going that is called the rag rug which is a series of colorful knots. For all of you kids from my generation or older, this is really macrame done on a tiny scale, which means each bracelet is a series of knots. Macrame in my day was done with rough, hairy twine and held hanging plants or made wall hangings with owls. Those were the days. I know I tried my hand at macrame long ago.

TC became particularly fond of the wave bracelet in the photo. She has made 3 or 4 of these so far. The one above with the shades of green is for my son's girlfriend.
She made this one in pinks and purple for me. I've been wearing it ever since. The other day TC loaded up her bag of thread and her trusty clipboard (to hold the bracelet while working) in her backpack to take to school. She has a really nice study hall teacher who lets them chat if their work is done and TC had the idea to teach a couple of her friends how to make friendship bracelets. I guess they loved it and now have made their own wave bracelets. If you get to sit by old TC in study hall you may just learn a new craft or two along the way.
In other news, I have to share this poster my son made. He is a junior in high school. He made this poster as part of a group assignment for French for Le Chat et L'oiseau (the cat and the bird) which is a children's story. I think that's correct. It is supposed to look cartoonish and child-like.

The fun thing is that by moving the attached skewers on the right side of the poster the cat's arm moves along with the bird, like he's swatting. He wanted a brass fastener but I didn't have any so instead he asked if I had any string. Um, yes, I do have some string.

Anyway, I thought it was kind of cool and innovative for a school poster. This son is into animation and is taking a computer animation class right now which he loves. He brought the character movement right into his poster. He also told me likes the French word for bird, l'oiseau. Me, too.
TC is continuing to play the French Horn. I thought this quick last minute practice session before her concert was cute. She had her music on the stool in front of her. I love a good beginning band concert. They all sound exactly the same.

Well, those are some of the goings on over here. What's happening at your house?
best, susie

17 comments:

Jill Nault said...

I love macrame! I make plant holders out of hemp (comes in a ton of colours) and I use chunky fun beads. I've also been making bracelets since I was TC's age. The clipboard idea is great, I just used to pin the bracelet to my jeans!

Love what your kids are up to! Fun stuff!

Miss Julep said...

You entire family is talented! LOVE the new spin on friendship bracelets! I've never seen them done that way!!And the poster is too CUTE!

laurel bud said...

Oh I love these bracelets, the one with green shades is fabulous.

Now I know what to do with the box full of embroidery threads which are gathering dust.

My girls will love making these, thank you so much for this post :-)

LB

Jill said...

I loved this post! The bracelets are fresh and quirky, what fun it is to find a tutorial for something you love and the circle grows!
Did they play 'Hot Cross Buns' at the band concert?

Stefanie said...

I love friendship bracelets!!! I used to make them all the time, the slanted blocks of color, the chevrons, and this centipede like one. I used always have one knotted on a safety pin and that pinned to my jeans. Can't wait to see what else she makes. Love that cute pic of her and her french horn. Love her hair!
Cool poster by your son. Clever to make the cat's paws move like that.

Kate (KnitsInClass) said...

I used to make friendship bracelets by the dozens when I was TC's age - although, they were just the simple mini-macrame type - I'm going to have to check out some of those tutorials.

Your children are truly yours - such wonderful creative gifts they have! Thanks for sharing them with all of us.

Ertman-Trowbridge Family said...

Friendship bracelets! Totally cool. I remember those days. I wish TC were closer. I would commission her to make bracelets for my girls. Any thoughts of her "expanding" her business to make a couple of bucks for the summer?

I had to laugh when sauceyjill mentioned pinning the bracelet to her jeans to work on it. Yep. I did the same thing. Today's children are far more practical.

And, finally, love your son's poster! I always enjoy reading about the activities of your children. I've mentioned it before, but it always gets me very excited to watch my children grow.

Nickycarp said...

(momoffour) The teens in our town showed us how to do the bracelets by looping the end over your toe! LOL My kids are not so craft-alicious right now, but my kindergartener and 2nd grader are studying drawing together, which is really cute. Sure has boosted the kindergartener's skills! And so fun to see them working together! We just saw my son's concert band concert (trumpet) and my daughter's play (she was the OSU coordinator in Kilroy Was Here. FUN FUN! Great job TC!

Kelly said...

I loved this post! Your kids sound just as clever, crafty, and fun as you are!

Zenitude said...

I really laughed when you wrote about the macrame owls...I guess we all show our age when we know exactly what you are talking about!! I love to see old crafts modernized. The bracelets are really beautiful!

Maven said...

Fun fact: The performance art of telling stories by moving stationary items (like moving those skewers to make the cat swat the bird) is called cantastoria. :)

pookie said...

You asked what's new at our house! i just became a grandma for the first time at 10:48 last night. Our son and his wife blessed us with a beautiful baby boy...8lbs 14 oz. i've already made the little lamb for him from the itsy bitsy collection...and will be making many more toys for him to love and cuddle. thanks susan!!!

Julie said...

I use to make friendship bracelets when I was a tween-ager. I remember carrying an old clip board around with me everywhere. Mine were never as cool as that wave one TC made though!

Julie said...

I use to make friendship bracelets when I was a tween. I carried an old clip board around with me everywhere. Mine were never as cool as TC's wave one though. I may have to try my hand as these again very soon!

Sara said...

Will you be my mommy?

Anonymous said...

I so love the crafty stories about your family and the how-tos that are needed to do them. All my kids are gone, but the grandkids are old enough to enjoy alot of these ideas and my second daughter, a school teacher now, is also my artist. I pass on the great things you share with us. I know if I ever run into you at an event, I'll start talking as if I know you because I feel I do. Just love you and your work. Skispinner on Ravelry

Anonymous said...

Sounds like TC should be a technical writer! Her bracelets are beautiful.