Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

One handicraft I learned way back in Brownies was macramé. I liked it because it was something I could do. I’d spend hours sitting on the living room floor, my project tied to the couch leg, knotting jute cord. Over the years I’ve macramed wall hangings, holders plant holders and such.

My last project was a door pull, long before I was married. The door pull eventually wore out a few years ago; I have been struggling with closing our front door since then.

I have kept my eyes open for more cord to make a new one, but, except for nylon clothesline cord that wasn’t very exciting, I could not find anything suitable. Does no one macramé any more?

A year or more ago, Mom found nearly a full spool of purple cord and a package of wooden beads in her favourite thrift store. Purple, yes! Now we are talking.

But there it sat on my bookshelf, within view from my desk, taunting me. Tempting me to create something with it, something in my favourite colour. But I always had something else to do.

The spool sat on the shelf until well into February when I could take its taunting no longer. I googled the ratio needed for macramé cord length (my memory hadn’t failed me – the suggested ratio was still 7:1), turned off my computer after my four hours of work and got busy.

Knowing I wanted the final product to be, roughly, two feet long, I placed the exercise bike fourteen feet away from Darrell’s power wheelchair (here’s where having one-foot square parquet hardwood comes in handy), measured out four strands and cut. There was no turning back now.

Initially this middle-aged woman took a while to rediscover the neuron pathways created decades ago. At one point I had to remind myself that I was merely tying the reef knot, not developing a replacement for Google.

Once I found my groove, I couldn’t wait to finish my four-hour workday to get back to my macramé. With my computer shut down and my music on, I had no desire to check my email, hang out on Twitter or update my status on Facebook. I was content, happy, in the moment. . I even found myself totally loosing track of time, which hasn’t happened in eons.

The door pull is now complete and hanging on the door. It works great and looks pretty good too!