Friendship bracelets

When I was younger I used to love to make friendship bracelets. The kind where you tie knots out of different colors of embroidery floss to make stripes. I was pretty awesome at it.

Girls Camp 1988, Age-12

It was the only time that I could think of that I felt any joy in a sewing aisle. I swear the little bundles of string were only 10 for a dollar, and I felt like a kid in a candy store. There was every shade imaginable. I liked the variegated colors alot, where they would start off a darker shade, then slowly fade and then get darker again. One end of the bracelet would end up looking completely different than the other end. I could make them in any size, and I even think I made some with a V design rather than the basic slanted stripe design. I never got more intricate than that though.

I would give some away, but I mostly just made them for myself. Not because I was selfish, I just didn't have a lot of friends to give them to, and then if I had a friend I would think about giving them to, I'd get panicky that maybe they wouldn't want it, because by accepting it, they would feel obligated to be my friend and they really didn't want to be, I was just misconstruing politeness on their part for friendship, and they might think I was pathetic like I was trying to buy their friendship with my lame-o bracelet, or some other line of reasoning similar to that, so I ended up keeping most of them.

If you tied it on tight enough you could go MONTHS without having to take them off. I even wore the anklets I made to church underneath my nylons. Tacky? Who? Not me. (Yes, believe it or not, I used to own nylons.)

So it was with great joy the other day that Madison started talking about friendship bracelets. And all the friends she wanted to give them to. I'm not sure what she was envisioning in her head, but I ran upstairs and dug out my old collection of embroidery floss. (I think I was saving it in the hopes that someday this day would come. Someday I would be able to share this little talent of mine with my own little girl.)

She was pretty excited. (And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't) She picked it up pretty quick, but I had to stay close by when she got stuck. And undo a knot or two. I made her an anklet (cause that was my favorite place to wear them) and she's making me a matching bracelet (cause there's not enough string for another anklet.) She has plans to make some for each of her friends. She doesn't suffer from the same insecurities as I did. I have plans to introduce her to the joy that is the embroidery section of the craft store.
Additionally, (although I am THE LAST person to judge what is currently in style and I feel like a total mom- in other words clueless- when I say this, but) I'm thinking that the bracelets might be retro enough to kinda be cool or hip again, (if they ever were) or whatever it is the kids are calling it these days. Either way, I hope she has some fun with it.