One Man's Trash is Another's Treasure

Have you heard of the Little Free Library project? It's a project that started in Wisconsin but has sites across the country. The idea behind the project is that people put a little cabinet filled with books out near their sidewalk and their neighbors can borrow and exchange books. It is nothing formal, just book sharing based on good faith that you'll bring the book back or exchange it for another.

I passed by the Little Free Library near my apartment one recent evening and, on a whim, checked out the selection. Happily, I found this little gem of a macrame book, Macrame: Creative Design in Knotting. Needless to say, this book is staying with me and I left a different book in the library as a repayment.

Macrame is one of the fiber arts that is terribly out of fashion right now, having gone through a heyday in the 1970's. Still, I'm really intrigued by how you can use knots to make fabric. There must be a way to utilize macrame without making a project look kitschy or dated to the 70's. It's an interesting challenge.

Despite never wanting to make anything in the 1970's macrame style, I find the photos of such projects in this book endlessly amusing. What's not to love about a macrame poncho? Just don't ask me to wear it.

So I'm enjoying my 'new' book on macrame. The book contains a nice blend of techniques and delightful examples, so it's part tutorial and part 'inspiration'. I'm not sure I'll ever use any of this information, but I'm enjoying learning about the technique in the meantime. And maybe someday I'll find an interesting modern application for macrame.