Friendship Band Earrings

I love experimenting with different techniques and merging them together. I was reviving my secondary school days by making a friendship band for myself. (I DO have friends, I just want to make one for myself. *shifty*)

While making it halfway, I had an idea. What if I used that technique and knotted it round a wire to make earrings? So I tried it out. It was pretty funky.

I have the instructions below for you guys to try out.

Materials

Get some strings, earring hooks, wire hoops and pliers. You can get them at Beadspin behind Tampines MRT station.


Instructions

1) Using the string, make a double knot at one end of the wire hoop.

2) Hold the hoop in your left hand with your thumb, extend your index finger.

3) With your right hand, take the end of the string and wind it around the back of your finger. DO NOT MAKE A COMPLETE CIRCLE.

4) Then bring it through the hoop from the back and through the loop round your index finger.

(steps 2-4)

5) Pull taut and repeat until you have gone round the whole hoop.

If my instructions are not clear enough, you might want to check this out. Just modify it a little, instead of wrapping round another string, it's the wire hoop.


Maybe you could give it to your friends as the alternative friendship band. :D

The Science of Knit Wristbands

I was practicing with some wool I found in my room from the days I made pom-pom frogs (don't ask). After awhile, I got a little bored. I wondered if I could knit with other stuff. So I hunted around my room and found a bag full of ribbons. So I tried knitting with those.

It was a little hard at first because unlike wool, ribbons are stiffer and less elastic. But once I'd gotten used to them, it was much easier than wool. For a beginner like me, I tend to drop my needles and stitches a lot and for wool, the stitches easily unravels. On the contrary, because ribbons are much stiffer, my stitches stay in shape. So that was good.
While practicing, I had an idea to make wristbands. It allowed me to carry out some experiments too. I wanted to know if the size of the finished product would differ between the wool and ribbon. So I knitted 28 rows of 10 stitches. The wool piece was shorter than the ribbon. That wasn't a surprise given that the width of the ribbon is twice that of wool.
I also tried stretching them. They were the same size. So since the wool piece is shorter, wool has more elasticity. That was established earlier when I first started knitting with ribbons, but I wanted to confirm that.

So then I made wristbands out of both materials. As you can see, the ribbon one looks nicer and you can see the pattern of the stitch. However, it was a really tight fit. :( The wool one was looser but also more plain. I think I could jazz it up with beads and sequins. What do you guys suggest?

For instructions on making wristbands, check this out. They have very simple and clear instructions.