hello there everyone today I'm going to
show you how to do a range what basic
macrame knots and the first one I'm
going to start off with showing you it's
a square knot so what I'm going to do is
I'm gonna be working with my macrame
board if you don't have one like this
just find a different way of attaching
your cards and what you're working with
there's a lot of different ways you can
do that with clips and pins and stuff so
to show you this first I'm gonna get a
piece of card out I'm just using some to
mill setting core to demonstrate with
you I'm gonna attach this to the top of
my board in one of the notches bring it
all the way down and attach it at the
bottom as well so it's now fastened to
my board and this is gonna be my holding
card you can also easily have two
holding column or this is just to
demonstrate and then I'm gonna get out
another piece of card
same kind
and I'm gonna fold it over so find about
the middle this is how I often tend to
stop my wife anyway you feed one end
underneath
and you have your card ready like this I
like it sir this is just a demonstrate
you the basic technique but there's a
whole range of things you can do with
this and also different types of card in
different amounts of card you can use so
it's not limited to this whatsoever this
is just the basic square knot so what
you do is you have your holding card
coming down the middle and then you have
your working cards coming out on the
side it's one on each side and what you
do is you grab your working Cod from one
side first it doesn't matter which one
you start with because it'll be the same
as long as you just keep going the same
way and you bring that over it was
coming out underneath your holding card
at the top bring it over so it forms a
loop and then above you're holding card
down here so that's your first one you
now grab the card from the other side
grab it bring it over your holding card
from the other side so it goes above
that and then you want to grab it and
then feed it underneath places the place
where your two cards crossed while the
first holding can't cross sorry where
the first working card Cross's you're
holding card
and then you want to pull it up through
the loop that you made with your first
working card like so and then I spread
it out and try and show you it kind of
looks something like this
so you have your first working card
forming a loop on here
and that's going above you're holding
card and then down through the loop on
the other side and this working card
it's going from in this loop going below
your the working card and you're holding
code and coming up through the loop so
someone's a bit like a pretzel shape
like this then all you do is pull them
tight like so and that my forms the
first half of your square knot so you
now need to repeat this step do exactly
the same except start with the opposite
side that you just did
so I started with my left side before so
now when I grab the cord on my right
side again I bring it over my holding
cord to make this loop on some people
like to kind of say that this is like a
D or a P or something or depending on
what side you have the loop on to
recognize it more that's completely up
to you how you like to remember it and
then grab the working cord from the
other side bring it over the working
card come up from the previous side and
then feed your end
lift up your than card and feed your end
underneath both cards that you have
crossing here and I pull it up through
the loop that you created before
like so you now have that kind of
pretzel shape again and you then just
pull that tight and there you have a
full square knot and when I show you
again a little bit closer I start I tend
to always start with my left side for
some reason that's just what comes
natural to me you might see find out
that you tend to start with your right
side that's completely fine as long as
you then make sure to go on the other
side afterwards to finish off your knot
so you bring my case the left side card
over make the loop and bring it over
you're holding card and then you bring
the other one over that and then feed it
underneath both and pull it up through
the loop and get your pretzel shape and
then pull it tight because then start it
with my left card I'm gonna go move on
to my right card to start with now
because you need to finish off the
square knot so you lay that over form
the loop bring the other one down above
that holding card and then feed it
underneath both and pull up through the
loop and you have your pretzel shape and
then you pull that tight
and now here you have two square knots
laying right underneath each other and
if you're doing something like a
Shambhala bracelet you can just keep
going with this
making your square knots but also you
can easily incorporate it into other
designs like so
there you have three and if you ever
want to like count how many you've done
an easy way to recognize this is by you
can count itself from the top on the
sides you kind of have these loops
coming up basically one loop if you just
count on one side one loop is one full
square knot so I could count I have 1 2
3 loops so I've done 3 square knots so
if you lose count but you need to know
how many you've done that's one way to
then keep track of it so that's how you
do a basic square knot
the next knot I'm going to show you how
to do is this spiral knot it's quite
similar to the square knot but just a
little variation so again I've attached
my holding card to my body and I've got
my working card again I folded it in
half to find about the middle feed the
end underneath and then you have both
ends coming up to each their own side
now what you need to do is start off
your spiral knot and again it doesn't
matter what side you start with the side
you start with real is going to actually
depend what way your spiral is gonna go
again I'm just gonna start with the left
side so you start off the exact same way
that you did with your square knot you
take one side create your loop and put
it over your holding card like so and
you take the card from the other side
bring it over first holding card sorry
the first working card and then bring
your end underneath both and pull up
through your first loop so again like
before you end up with this pretzel
shape you pull that tight
so you might recognize this is exactly
the same thing that we did with the
square knot the only difference is now
instead of then coming to the other side
and finishing off the square knot like
we did before we simply continue with
the same side every time we do a knot we
do it from the same side so I take again
my left cord make the loop bring the
other one over and feed it underneath
both and pull it up through the loop and
pull the tight and I repeat make the
loop with the same not to start with
same card to start with bring the other
one through and pull tight so I'm going
to show you again a bit closer keep
starting with the same side make the
loop bring the other one over underneath
both and up through the loop and pull it
tight you use keep going with this to
make the spiral knot
and what you'll find is you can already
see the spiral starting to form and
usually what happens is eventually after
making a few knots your cards will kind
of twist on you so you feel like you're
gonna be pulling them so what you'll
have to do is just bring them around to
basically get a flat surface to work on
again but then you just keep going
it's that same thing the whole way as
long as you want you spiral to be and
obviously I start with my left side and
my spiral is going this way if you want
it you spare the other way you just
start on the other side and keep going
with that way
so you just keep going like this until
you reach like you want you spiral to be
I stopped for you able to tell you have
a nice spiral here now so that's how you
do the spiral not the next night I'm
going to show you how to do is the larks
head knot now this knot is often used to
start out a project or to add in new
card or anything like that really and
it's quite useful one to know
so I've already put a from holding card
this is just to demonstrate for you it
can be used in many different situations
and designs so what I've done is my
working card I folded it over so about
the middle I have here there's a loop
and then what you do is you don't keep
hold of that loop and then I my work
holding card I come from a book and I
feed that loop underneath my holding
card so it lays like this and then what
you do is grab hold of that loop you put
your fingers through it and then around
you're holding card then grab the ends
of your working card and pull them all
through and then you have something that
looks like this
and then all you do is pull it tight
like so and this working card is now
text you're holding card and that's
what's called a lack they're not so I'm
just gonna show you one more time up
close you have this loop in your working
card about the middle of the card
usually you feed that keep all of that
loop feed it underneath your holding
card like so grab that loop with your
fingers and put your fingers through it
and then you grab the ends of your card
both ends so you have it
looping around you're holding card and
then you pull them through and you end
up with something that looks about like
this and then you pull it tight
and that's not fastened to your holding
collar and that's a lot said not the
next knot is a reverse larks head knot
and basically it's the same thing that
you just done you just go in from a
different angle and honestly this is the
one I assured for 30 years most of the
time and I'll show you why
so again I've got my holding card ready
I grab my working card find about the
middle create the loop and instead of
coming from above and feeding a loop
underneath I go from below and feed the
loop underneath it from below and Oh
still underneath your holding collar and
you grab that loop white you dip the
fall put your fingers through it and
then grab the ends of your card and pull
them all the way through and then you
end up with it with this it basically
looks the same as a phone except you
have the loop running underneath these
two calls was before I was above and you
pull it tight like so
and that's how it looks so I'll show you
one more time up close you grab your
working card make your loop feed it
underneath you older code from beneath
and push it through and then grab hold
of the actual loop put your fingers
through and then pull your ends all the
way through and then tighten it and the
reason that for further is not to use
the reverse larks head knot over the
normal Mike said not most of the time
it's because like I said from before you
just flip it around and show you this is
what the reverse larks head knot would
be you have the loop come in above
that's quite visible it's just personal
preference I just prefer this because I
think it looks a lot more it blends in a
lot better in my opinion but that all
depends on the project but that's how to
do the reverse slacks heading up next
not that I'm going to show you is called
a half hitch now for this you need two
cords they're already attached to
whatever you're working on I'm just
gonna show you from this so I have two
cars coming out one is going to be a
holding card and one is going to be your
working card so what you do is you grab
hold of one with one hand and then you
take the other one so the one you're
holding in your hand is you're holding
card and the other one is going to be
your working code that's the one you're
going to use to form the knots around
this one so what I usually do is I put
it around my finger and to the other
side of the holding card and then pull
the end through the loop so I'll let it
down the holding card is coming straight
down and you have the working card
looping around kind of four minus six
around you're holding code first going
above it and below it and then up
through the loop and then you pull that
tight
and that's a half-hitch and then you can
switch over you can do it on the other
side so that now becomes your holding
card this is your working card put it
around your finger and pull it through
the loop and tighten it so this you can
really you just need two cards to do a
half hitch and you can do it in any way
but this is alternating listen itself
can be a quite nice effect you keep
going like this you could also use two
different colors
like so
so I'm just finishing you're gonna cross
one it's going to be a holding card and
the other one you're working card you
loop it around your finger and then pull
it back through the loop so you get your
six forming around you're holding card
and then all you do is tighten it
this is probably one of the most if not
the most used not in Makram and
especially micro/macro me this is a very
used not because you can pretty much do
anything with this so that's how you do
that one
the next knock that i'm going to show
you is called the double half-hitch
so Spacely like we just did but you make
two every time you make a knot instead
of just one and again the same principle
you need to cut one is you're holding
card one is you're working card you do
affect the same thing hold your holding
card with one hand the other one you
loop around your finger and pull it
through the loop so again you end up
with your six and just pull it tight and
then to make the double half-hitch you
just make another one
I'm going to show you again a bit up
close so I'm going to switch around this
time it doesn't matter is this a
demonstration when is you're holding
card the other one is your work in card
grab hold are you holding guard take
your working card around your finger and
pull it through the loop and tighten it
one more time to eat double half-hitch
drag your finger through the loop so you
get your six
this is a reverse six I'm just
tightening it so you're making two half
hitches to make a double half hitch
which then counts kind of us one knot
and this is like it said before very
common knot and very much used in a
specially micro McCraney and the thing
with this it's gonna be but happy to
show you here but what happens with this
is you can pretty much do anything and a
little tip is when you doing half
hitches you can get your row of knots
because that's basically what you do a
lot of the times you create rows of
knots you can get that row to go in
pretty much any direction you want it to
go the way you determine that is what
direction you hold your holding card in
so if you pull it up your row will start
to go up if you pull it down our nails
start to go down so it's very handy like
that you can better get it to do
whatever you want it to do and also if
you keep going
making these half it just doing it the
same way it's kind of similar to be
fault with the spiral not actually a
spiral starts to form here just a little
bit of a different type of spiral but
still a spiral grab it back around
if you want to just keep going doing
this you make a different type of spiral
you can see you're not so starting to
spiral around so that's just a different
another effect you can get from it now
the last knot that I'm going to show you
how to do it's a bit of a variation
between some of the ones who've already
done and it's called the reverse double
half hitch again you have your two cards
one is gonna be holding card and one is
your working card so you keep hold of
one of them doesn't matter which one
that all depends the design you're going
for you do the same thing you take your
working card around your finger and pull
it through the loop like so but then now
instead of continuing that same way what
you need to do is reverse it because you
remember from before and we just kept
doing it the same way you got a spiral
what you actually want this to do is you
want it to end up being flat so to do
that you need to do the opposite so this
time we went like this so if we lay it
out basically over the holding card and
then back underneath that's how we
started so now we need to do the
opposite now we need to take the working
collar underneath the holding card and
then pull it back around and through the
loop so you still get your six but it
wraps around in the opposite way and
then you pull that tight
and you get what looks like this so I'm
gonna show you a few more times to show
you the effect you got so basically you
have your holding card like the whole
time in this case you're not switching
around between holding card and working
card you put your working card above it
over it and then back around itself and
pull it through the loop so you get your
six and because you started going over
that one now you need to take your
working called underneath your than God
and then pull the end back through the
loop so that's why it's called our bus
double half-hitch
and what you kind of end up with if I
can try and show you around over and
around and pull through and then under
and around and pull through if you can
see this knot this is very similar it's
basically saying when we did the larks
head knot so you can also call it kind
of a side where you slacks had not it
just depends how you like to look at it
really we pull it tight
like so over around through the loop
pull it tight under mount and through
the loop and pull it tight
over around through the loop and under
around and through the loop and then you
end up with something that looks like
this so basically like I said a road
knots and like I said they're all flat
they're not spiraling like they did
before because you're doing them reverse
it basically works a bit like you're
doing this square knot and the spiral
knot it's the same principle so that's
how you do a range of basic macrame
knots and from these knots you'll pretty
much be able to do anything and there's
a lot of different variations and it all
depends on your designs that you want to
do as well so I hope you enjoyed that
and found it useful and thank you very
much for watching