BACK TO BEADING BASICS - WHY IS KNOT TYING SO HARD??

Riding on a high from a successful Super Bowl Party (what did everyone think of that half time show?? We had equal parts groans and enthusiasm), I was determined to take up the rose quartz beads I so casually discarded in favor of pool time in Miami. It was time to start knotting that necklace. 

I mentioned earlier that Santa was kind and, among other things, I received a handy dandy Bead Smith bead knotter as a gift over the holidays.  For some reason, I thought this little device would make me an expert and I would be flying along in no time with a beautiful finished product.  Not so much.

To set the stage, I have to tell you I have absolutely no experience in knot tying necklaces.  There was no reason whatsoever that I should have assumed that this little tool would let me crank out necklace after necklace with little effort. That said, I'm a bit of an optimist...

I sat down yesterday with my sample thread and some cheap beads to practice.  Thank goodness I had at least a tiny bit of foresight to acquire some cheap practice goods because I soon realized I needed the practice. A lot of it!  After I stared at the little diagram that was attached to the packaging for about an hour, I realized I needed to seek out another medium for training.  You Tube seemed like the best bet as I just wasn't getting the 2D versions.  I found a couple links and choose the one from FireMountianGems  as my guide.  After more than 3 dozen views (and after participating in a pretty heated one sided fight with the nice woman doing the demo), I had about 6 beads strung.  Oh, the humanity!  No wonder hand knotting is a premium product, it's an absolute nightmare to figure out.  That said, I'm not licked yet.  I'm going to master this if it is the last thing I do... Stay tuned for progress reports!