New Old Macrame

I think we all grew up with a plant or two growing from a suspended, macrame sling.  Either we made them or our intrepid mothers knotted and beaded these baskets.  I think ours stayed up all through the 90's and only came down when the plants died.  As the whole world seems to be re-embracing all things retro and all things craft, macrame and macrame planters are making a come back.  But how to do an update?  Perhaps the easiest way to avoid the typecast of just another trend is to upgrade on the materials and the patterns.


This is going to be a work in progress, but I am thinking about skipping the pots and just doing moss balls with drippy succulents.  Sort of an unconventional kokedama.  Settling on the macrame pattern has been a bit more interesting.  I bought this book:

Sounds promising, right?  Should be cute and awesome.  Then I open it up:

CRAZY!!  Suddenly my hands feel short and chubby.   While I have dabbled in Irish lace making (glorified crochet), I really have never embarked on such a complicated pattern.  I don't think that I would want to directly replicate the knotting, as it wouldn't make for the most functional 'planter', but it should make a good starting point.  I just think that it is neat to own this little book which is proving to be such a time capsule.  It is pretty incredible to think that not too long ago, if you wanted to spruce up your outfit, you would be learning these standard patterns.

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/04/diy-project-kokedama-string-garden.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_lace

http://archive.org/details/imperialmacram00barb