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LENGTH OF STRINGS? by Sarysha123 11 years ago

Hey people I don't wanna sound stupid but I was just wondering how to know what lengths of strings for all the different patterns on here?
Any help will be appreciated and I will rate/comment your patterns if you want!

RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by Rissa 11 years ago

There isn't a general rule.
It depends on how many things.

The most important question would be if you're going to make a normal or alpha pattern, because these use totally different amounts of strings.

Second would be the type of material, how thick it is. The thicker the string, the longer the string has to be.

Third would be how long the knotted part should be. 10cm of knots need way less string than 15.

Then there are minor differences, like how tight you know, if you braid both ends, use a buckle, a braided buckle, a clasp etc.

These would be things that once figured out for yourself should be rather stable.

The unstable thing depends on the pattern. If you make an alpha pattern which mostly uses background color you need more of that string, if a lot of the letter strings show these need to be longer. And multicolor alphas are a totally different topic.
If you make a normal pattern where one string is used all the time and isn't knotted over once it needs to be the longest, and sometimes a string does never show and is always used to be knotted over, this then could be about as short as the complete length of the bracelet (say knotted part 13cm+2xbraids with 15cm you need about 43cm).

RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by mlis_d 11 years ago

If you are still unsure go a little longer so you dont run out!

RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by Poptart 11 years ago

Everyone has different rules for this, but as a rule of thumb I usually make all strings the length of my armspan, from fingertip to finger tip. I almost always end up with lots extra, but it's better to have too much than to little.

RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by thatsaltyair 11 years ago

typically, i make my strings 3 feet long

RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by Reinsglory 10 years ago

I have been working with the idea of how long strings should be too. As I have been finding that I can work a pattern and one string is always too short. One of the other posts had a formula it is for working in inches as follows:
Calculate
number of rows for the pattern R,
number of times the specified string is used for a knot K
number of times the pattern must be replicated to complete the bracelet P,

minimal yarn length = P*(K*0.95+(R-K)*0.3)+length for braiding

my only problem is that you need to know how many inches are in one complete set of the pattern before you can move further.

Maybe when people are posting patterns they could include some more information such as the finished length without a braid and how many times the pattern was repeated.



RE: LENGTH OF STRINGS? by Rissa 10 years ago

This just isn't possible because it depends on the type of string used and how tight or lose the knots are.
When I started knotting when I was ten I made very lose knots. Soon after that I got my first book with patterns which have a fixed length (non-repeating patterns).
Some of the patterns I made several times, I still have some of these old bracelets somewhere.

When I make these bracelets today they are at least one cm shorter than the ones I made twenty years ago, and I not only use the same type of threads, but in some cases even exactly the same string as I still have twenty and thirty year old pieces of floss.

Now imagine if someone uses some strings that are thicker or thinner, how much this would vary..

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