This is Judy, Kate's mom! While she's in Disney World and the rest of us aren't (okay, yes, I'm jealous!), I thought maybe you'd like to spend a little time making a cute adjustable bracelet for yourself or a friend (or you can scoot over to my blog, That's Not What I Expected to Hear, to read some of my imaginative - and imagined - conversations with, um, inanimate objects or go to my etsy shop to see the jewelry I make from real coffee beans!) Here are the directions for making the bracelet (or just use more cord and make it a necklace!)
1. Select some beads or charms and cut your stringing material to a few inches longer than you'd need to either slip it over your hand or your head. 2. Thread your beads onto the cord (a good idea is to put a slipknot in the other end so your beads don't fall off while you're stringing them!). 3. Center your beads and tie a knot at each end of the beads to secure them in the middle of your cord.
4. Now comes the tricky part - making the slide knots. Place the left cord above the right cord with more than 3" of overlap (see the photo). Next, lift the right (lower) cord about 3" from its end and making sure the rest of the right cord stays below the left cord, begin coiling the piece you've lifted around BOTH cords until you've made three loops (sorry I don't have pictures of this part...I would have had to have three hands!). Thread the tail (which is still the right cord - it's the piece left over from looping) back through the three loops you just made and then pull it tight. You've made your first slide knot! 5. Repeat step 4 for the second slide knot. When both knots are done, slide them together and make sure your bracelet/necklace fits over your hand/head. If it does, trim the excess tail from the knots. If it's a tight squeeze and you have excess cord hanging out from your knots, just undo the knot and redo it so that you won't have so much excess. 6. Once your bracelet/necklace is over your hand/head, simply slide the knots apart to make it as tight as you'd like it.
Congratulations! You just made your own beautiful adjustable piece of jewelry!
