Alpha knots not proportional , straight
Reply
|
_moon_
Skiller
 |
3 years ago by _moon_
Hey!I dont exactly know how to word it but ive recently started making alphas and i always run into the issue of my knots themselves being longer than wide aswell as tilted to the side the leading string is moving towards. Because of my longer than wide knots, my bracelets come out distorted lenghtwise. When i look at other peoples bracelets they get these straight, non tilted to one side perfectly pixel sqare knots and i just dont understand how i can get there , it is frustrating. Does anyone know how to get : - non tilted knots ? - sqare knots that arent longer than wide ? my thread is probably a bit thicker than usual embroidery floss so that might contribute? i just dont know how to fix the knot issue :/ |
|
halokiwi
Super Moderator
 |
3 years ago by halokiwi
I recommend to experiment with the angel of your leading string while making knots to see if you can avoid the tilting.To make the knots as wide as high I recommend to either use thicker base strings or double up your base strings. |
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@halokiwi ive been experimenting with the angle but so far it didnt help yet, maybe i just need more practise :/ making the base strings thicker is a great idea, i havent considered that yet, thank you! might be a fix for the look of it ! i do see people having the same base string thickness though and they all have perfect square knots and i jsut dont get it 🙁 |
|
knottahti
Moderator
 |
3 years ago by knottahti
hello there! from my experience, it takes a lot of practice to get your alphas to look the way that you are describing. it certainly took me quite a while to perfect my personal technique, and even though i know it can be frustrating to hear, it often just takes a lot of practice and trial and error! i would also recommend trying to maybe loosen up your knotting tension; that's something that has helped me a great deal with evening up my knots overall.
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@knottahti thank you for your advice, i guess practise makes perfect after all ! its frustrating indeed becaus eyou want to get it right but dont know how, but at least i can rest assured that it will get better with practise ! i will definitely work on my knot tension, thank you ! 🙂
|
|
eedeetv
Bracelet King
 |
3 years ago by eedeetv
Using the tips above plus making your knots a little looser will help! Looser knots = square-like knots, while tighter knots = more rectangular.
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@eedeetv wait really?? i always thought tighter knots made them more square , now im completely confused xD
|
|
eedeetv
Bracelet King
|
3 years ago by eedeetv
@_moon_ from my personal experience, looser knots are more square and easier to work with, while tighter knots, when pulled into shape, form vertical lines rather than squares for me! I use the flat alpha and the straight edges technique, but it depends on how you knot. Try experimenting with a few scraps of thread to see what works best!
|
|
Vivi07
Bracelet King
 |
3 years ago by Vivi07
Yep, loosening your knots helps. Also if they’re looser, you can use a ruler or a hard straight edge to push them up to make them squarer. I’ve been doing that recently (:
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@eedeetv interesting, i use flat alpha and straight edges too ! i will definitely experimet around, i just always felt like making tighter knots will make them shorter vertically because you pull them up in a way if that makes sense ! im excited to experiment though, thanks for the help !
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@Vivi07 ill have to do that in the future then ! i feel like my knots arent even that tight but maybe loosening them and pushing them more will help, thank you !
|
|
gavilan
Advanced
 |
3 years ago by gavilan
As I've gotten better at Alphas my knots have gotten way more even, but a side effect is that they are now oblong rather than square. I mostly design my own patterns so I've been compensating by adjusting my grid size to have oblong squares in my patterns, but I should try loosening my tension to get back to square knots so I can use other patterns. I've found going back to basic Normal patterns like chevrons and candystripe often helps me get back to a looser tension since I don't think about those so much!
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@gavilan thats really interesting, thank you for your inpu! ive tried adjusting my tension and compared between loose and tight knots and honestly apart of the size of the bracelet not much knot wise has changed xd i did however switch not to embroidery floss which magically resolves the tilted knot issue and now they are way more square than before, but not as square as a pattern yet so your idea of adjusting the patterns is a great idea, thanks ! 🙂
|
|
awesomelgk
Bracelet King
 |
3 years ago by awesomelgk
What I like to do is take my time for the first half of the knot and adjust it, and make it pretty tight. Then the second half, make it looser and adjust with your fingernail. (Did this make any sense at all??) It may just be a me thing, idk.
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@awesomelgk it makes sense , dont worry ! ill try that out, thank you 🙂
|
|
baublesbyb
Bracelet King
 |
3 years ago by baublesbyb
There's some good tips above! Another tip I have--sadly it cannot be applied to all alphas though--is to skip rows so the pattern doesn't look stretched. For example, in #67923, I skipped the row above the second line on the cup and the last brown line at the bottom of the cup. You can compare the picture I posted to the pattern, and it doesn't looked terribly stretched because of it.
|
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@baublesbyb i see what you mean ! like you said it might not work for all patterns, but definitely for some, thanks for your suggestion! also can i just say your photos are so aesthetic, they look great!
|
|
baublesbyb
Bracelet King
|
3 years ago by baublesbyb
@_moon_ aw thank you, that means a lot 🥰
|
|
KindaCrazy
Professional
 |
3 years ago by KindaCrazy
This thread has been an interesting read 🤔 🤔 🤔I make my knots as tight as humanly possible, and for the most part they end up as perfect circles... Not squares or rectangles like is typical, but circles.... So now I wonder what I'm doing differently, because my advice on the matter would be directly contrary to everybody else's... |
|
_moon_
Skiller
|
3 years ago by _moon_
@KindaCrazy interesting, my first instinct was aswell to tighten my knots but everyone else said not to so i loosened them up xD with my new yarn it got a lot better and i do them loose ish now because doing them tight hurts my hands :/
|
