It’s a Knotty World Out There

I thought I knew how to tie my shoes until I discovered macrame, but it turns out I just have a hidden talent for creating tangled masterpieces.

I ordered a ‘beginners’ macrame necklace kit online and packed it with my belongings for the weekend — my partner and I retired to a tiny cottage just outside the city to relax and recharge. He had his doubts because he knew how frustrated I can get when I’m struggling to master new skills, and he was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy my time there.

I explained that it was my way of relaxing and that macrame was certainly easier than any other craft I had tried. So, on the second day of our mini-break, I unpacked the kit to find a string, a necklace collar and a page of instructions.

Shorter String, Bigger Lesson

The first step seemed fairly straightforward — make 14 medium lark’s head knots, followed by two longer ones. However, the string that came with the kit wasn’t the same length as the instructions said it should be. I was already faced with a resource management problem. I was reminded that in life we often have less to work with than we expect, and that learning to make the most of limited resources is a valuable skill.

Having completed quite a few hobby kits, I’ve learnt that creativity flourishes when resources are scarce. I knew the end result would be different, but I went ahead anyway. I ended up with a large part of the necklace collar uncovered, but I decided to cross that bridge when I came to it. In the meantime, I had to move on to the second step — the horizontal clove hitch.

The Key to Mastering a Knot

Mastering a skill as complicated as knot tying takes a lot of patience and determination. I ended up watching 3 different YouTube tutorials and untied so many knots I lost count. Much of the time spent tying and untying took place outdoors, with lots of wasps flying around and the wind blowing so hard that my pieces of string were all over the place. By the time I got back inside, I was very frustrated, but I refused to give up and eventually mastered the knot, which felt so satisfying!

Stubbornness has always been a driving force behind my success, and the same was true when I had to do the horizontal hitch in reverse. At that point, I realised that I may have been too arrogant in claiming that macrame was easier than other crafts. It was a hard lesson in humility that the universe seems to keep reminding me of. My first macrame necklace wouldn’t be perfect. Damn it. Talk about being brought back down to earth.

The Power of Fresh Eyes

I only managed to complete about 80% of the project before we returned from our mini-break. My partner and I had an argument because I wanted to finish it and he thought it would be better to stop.

In the end, he was right. It is important to know when to take a break. Staring at the same problem for a long time can lead to frustration and mental block. So I took his advice and stepped away from the macrame necklace for a few days, then came back to it with fresh eyes. This is a hard lesson — overworking on something can lead to burnout, whereas stepping back allows you to approach a project with a fresh mindset and enthusiasm.

Waste Not, Want Not

I was excited by the final step of the project, which involved fluffing out the ends of the strings. The process required careful and repetitive movements which had such a calming, meditative effect. My necklace really looked like a necklace at this point and I was overcome with a sense of achievement and pride. I also found a practical and creative solution to the empty spaces on the collar of the necklace — I tied leftover threads into simple knots along the sides. My favorite part of creative hobby kits has always been adding my unique touch and reusing the leftover materials. Nothing should ever go to waste!

But the most valuable lesson of this DIY macrame adventure is that it’s a knotty world out there. Life is full of challenges that are perplexing and challenging to solve — some of which you’ll have to ‘untie’ several times before you get to the bottom of. Take relationships, for example: just as a knot can be tied incorrectly, misunderstandings in relationships can create tangled webs of confusion. But what I’ve come to realize is that a few wrong knots don’t really ruin the whole thing, just as imperfections in relationships don’t define the entire connection.

Will I wear my imperfect macrame necklace? Hell, yes. I set out to create a bohemian, Pinterest-perfect necklace and ended up with a tangled masterpiece. By wearing it, I’m basically taking responsibility for the fact that what I’ve created shows that I’m not a “knot” a pro yet, and that it’s okay if I don’t “knot” what I’m doing.

Have you ever tried macrame? What did it teach you about yourself?