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I''m new here and I've just been learning how to use the generator. I've gone trhough tutorials and seen videos, and I think I've got it except one question remains unanswered. i was hoping some person here could help me.

TAke for example pattern 1. https://www.friendship-bracelets.net/pattern.php?id=1 I've always known how to do it.But one thing i've noticed about the genrator is thatin the 2nd row of this pattern, it says to NOT use the outermost strands. But that's not how you are supposed to do it, aren't you supposed to use all the threads in each row?
This would not pose a big problem, but then there's the fact that there actually are patterns that do not use the outermost strands, like pattern 8, https://www.friendship-bracelets.net/pattern.php?id=8 How would you know whether or not to use the outermost strands if you had nothing but the pattern from the generator to rely on? There's also one more thing. for some patterns, you work the threads in pairs. How can you tell if the pattern requires pairing the threads or not just by looking at the generator? These are 2 questions that have really been bugging me. And whenever I find a pattern I really like, the only thing that holds me back are these questions.

i would really appreciate it if someone could help.

hmm. those are really hard questions XD. lol. honestly, i used to wonder why the outside ones arent used... then i realized it's just to hold the previous row down. if you try making one, youll see what i mean. as for the second one, im not really sure, i'm still trying to figure out the generator myself.. hope that helps some :D

When you make pattern 1 using the method you originally learnt, you'r actually knotting down the diagonal of the pattern. If you knotted it row by row, which would be stupid, but if you did, you would indeed not use the outermost thread every other line. It's to do with the diagonal nature of "normal" patterns.
Some patterns you have to work at pretty much row by row, just to keep track of them. Some of the patterns with lots of diagonal lines you can sometimes find easier ways of knotting them.