Hello, hello! My name is Maria, but most people know me as Masha Knots. You may know me from my tutorials and entertainment videos about friendship bracelets on my YouTube channel. I’ve been making friendship bracelets since 2009 after a friend showed me how to make the candy stripe and chevron patterns, and I immediately fell in love with the craft. I soon learned there were bracelet patterns that allowed me to create nearly any design I could imagine and that blew my mind. And as they say, the rest is history!

In this book I aim to share some of my friendship bracelet knowledge in a fun and understandable way. I will tell you about what friendship bracelets are as well as the various types that exist and the techniques used to make them. I will show you the types of strings I like to use as well as other materials that will help you create or customize your bracelets. I will teach you all about basic knots, various starts and ends to your bracelets, and other knotting techniques. I will show you examples of simple bracelets, which you can jump straight into creating. I will also explain normal and alpha patterns and the differences between them, and I will teach you how to properly read patterns.

I will go over some common beginner mistakes and how to fix them, and I will share a wide range of tips and tricks I have picked up over the years. I will also cover the various types of embellishments you can add when you want your bracelets to have a little extra pizazz. At the end of this book you will find a photo gallery showing some of my favorite bracelets I have created. I hope this will give you some inspiration for designs you want to try!

Thank you for picking up my book. I hope you enjoy it and I want to give you a warm welcome to the world of friendship bracelets.