Mad about Macrame? YES, now that you mention it. I am mad about macrame. In fact, I am downright T.O.ed.
Why, you may ask? Oh, I’ll tell you why. They are darn good reasons too, not like the reasons people use to acquit child molesters. These reasons are solid.
I’m mad about macrame because
1. It’s not fair when crafts so easy that your blind parrot can do them go out of style, but hard things like painting landscapes and writing novels are still considered cool.
2. My mom claims not to know what happened to the macrame owl that used to hang in our den:
A thing of rare beauty, it reminds me of a time when my afternoons were filled with Three’s Company reruns and grape pop ice. And yes, I realize that this would have occured in the 80s…what can I say? We were slow to redecorate. It was Macon, GA. Cut us some slack.
3. My "Macrame Belts by Kimberly" idea of 2001 failed to catch on in Atlanta (or anywhere else), yet people still bought the ones from J Crew.
4. I didn’t have one of these at my wedding:
5. When I go out on my deck I am forced to park my arse in something far less breathtaking than these masterpieces.
And finally, because
6. I want this so badly that it actually makes my brain hurt….and now that I have posted the link, you will all outbid me.
I had no idea my Aunt Bertha allowed her home to be photographed for a pattern book. Wow, I’m going to have to run out and buy a hundred copies!
The owls! OMG, the owls! They’re looking at me! Stop looking at me!
Amazing how much stuff on eBay is labeled “vintage.” Lovely purse, madam.
The first one makes me think, “YES! MAD ABOUT MACRAME! MAD, I TELL YOU!
You know I’m going to have to pass on the purse, but I’m going to have come serious regret over not out bidding you…
And I can think of even more reasons to be “mad about macrame”…
I still have a macrame giraffe my mom made for me when I was, like, 6. Also, those macrame lawn chairs? She still has several of those…
“Sayings to Sit On” is my favorite.
I can just *smell* the vintage purse, all the way over the Big Lake of the Atlantic.
Pity the fools not lucky enough to grow up with a macrame owl somewhere in their childhood home… It reminds me of my parents’ bathroom.
Holy crap! My mom used to have ‘Mad About Macrame’. I think it was in our combination magazine rack/toilet paper roll holder for the first dozen years of my life or so.
Slap a Harry Potter logo on those owls, and you’ve got a multi-million dollar marketing deal.
Our owl was orange. Very 70’s. I think my parents got rid of it in the 90’s, but I have a feeling that I will find it in the back of some closet next time I visit.
The purse? It’s, um, all yours
.
Okay, by 1980 in my house we had the owl, lots of plant holders, a strange braded macrame thing. My friend had the big floor-to-ceiling plant holder (with beads), and my grandparents had a different version of the owl.
Macrame–it was everywhere.
Regarding #4: If you and Alan ever have a ceremony to renew your wedding vows I promise to craft a Macramé Enchantment just for you.
my grandma used to collect owls and she had at least 4-5 macrame owls in all different sizes and colors that she tried to sell at a garage sale.
somehow, they didn’t sell.
Oh, I kind of want the little white owl…it looks like Hedwig, from Harry Potter.
My mom was into macrame AND owls. And earth tones. God, this reminds me of my childhood.
Yeah, we used to have the owl in yellow, hanging in the downstairs bathroom right above the toilet. I don’t know. It was kind of disconcerting having those big googly eyes staring at you while you’re trying to pee.
I miss most the intricate bead work that went along with most macrame crafts…!
OMG! We had a macrame hanging thing in our living room it was like a table of sorts a huge glossy piece of oak sat in the center and held our 8 track player!! ROFL!
Thanks for the blast from the past! :O)
Obviously in the 70s the housewives’ motto was: “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” I just had a major nostalgia moment seeing those hoot-owls!
You are hilarious. I haven’t read a blog this funny in… ever.
Of course, that lead me to attempt to share my mirth by reading certain posts aloud to my not-as-amused spouse who kindly endured at least 8 of them. Must be my delivery. *sigh*
Anyway, thanks for the laughs.
You’re too funny! Fun blog!
Robin
This one had me laughing out loud. My mother’s basement had exposed beams in the ceiling… just perfect for hanging her macrame works-in-progress. It was like walking through a vine filled jungle down there!
I don’t believe we ever had an owl, though.
She had to draw the line somewhere.
I still kinda like the lawn chairs *blush*
I think my mom made that purse. She made a lot of them and sold them. Someone loved that one so much that they kept it around….until now.
Gee, I kinda like the lawn chair thing.
I remember going down to the TG&Y with my babysitter to get empty fabric bolts with which to make our macrame “enchantments.” good times, I tell ya!
oh too much fun…. yes, we too had that creepy ‘ol owl hanging in our den… ick i hated that thing!
you can’t tell me a little jute and a big ol’ piece of burlwood doesn’t make the greatest hanging table ever!!! (and if mom’s not around, it makes a pretty good swing too – shush – don’t tell her…)
Yep…I made one of those owls back in the day and gifted my third grade teacher with it. I ran into her a few years ago, and she told me she still had it hanging in her bathroom. My first thought was..”geeze lady, time to redecorate.”
My grandma took classes and got into the handging table, handging diaper holder and purses. I still have them stored in a safe and sound place. What a blast from the past to see these. I too made macrame belts–wish they’d come back. The beads put in between the knots looked sooooo cool with the hip-hugger bell bottoms.
Oh geez…I still have a macrame christmas tree!!!
You must be speckled bird…that’s the only bid on that purse…(which is kinda cute)
You must have peeked into my Great-Aunt Jean’s house! She had a macrame decor …owls, table, plant hangers, and this thing in the bathroom that always scared me as kid. I was afriad to use the toilet at her house because the macrame paper holder had eyes that stared at me!
I don’t think we ever had a macrame owl, but I know we had a big hooked rug owl. Our neighbor finished it after I did some of the border and got, well, bored.
Wait… what’s this about Macon, GA? I grew up there! You, too?
Yep. I was born in Macon. My parents, brother, etc. all still live there. I just went north a little ways to the big city…
My mom still has one of those macrame hanging lamp and table combo things in YELLOW in her livingroom. We are constantly teasing her about it. Now I can tell her that she can probably sell it on eBay and make a fortune. NOT!
I have just had my mind blown be “these masterpieces” linked above. Macrame lawn chairs… the mind boggles. And the sheer number of examples is ASTOUNDING. When I attempt to comprehend the amount of time and energy over the course of history which has gone into the design, construction, sale, and purchase of said creepy crafts… I can’t go on.
Thank you for provoking me into a fit of laughter so effective that I began to shoot coffee out of my nostrils while working (I mean, umm, pretending to work while surfing the net). Do you think coffee shooting out nostrils is suspicious??? You made me laugh BIG TIME! In the words of the Governator, “I’ll be baaack.”
One year my mother made those owls (in the first image) for everyone and their dog for Christmas. Here I had happily forgotten all about them until I saw them here. *shudder*
Are you sure that’s a hanging table? I could swear I’d seen that thing in an old low budget horror movie as the brain sucking alien monster!
Girls. Girls…..I made lots of money in collage teaching little old ladies how to make owls and plant hangers and tables at the good old Craft Shocase in Cumberland Mall. We sold these magazines and at Christmas time we couldn’t keep the marcrame yarn in stock. There was good money in macrame.
Purses were my favorite.
Later…Pat
Next one I want to see is “String Art.”
I have to confess – see that table on the mad about macrame book? I made that, using THAT BOOK, (which I still own), for my ex mil. She loved it – in fact she still loves it – 20 years later, lol.
Thank you for the smile!
Help, can someone tell me where I can get a beginners book of Macrame. I would also love the mad about macrame book. I learned a little about it about 22 yrs. ago in my art class and I would sure love to pick it up as a hobby…… Signed Crazy Craft Lover……..
Okay, come clean. Which one of you is “purple*twinkle*toes” ??
(See: list of bidders)
I made an owl keychain once. It was navy blue and sparkly. Why do Girl Guide camps always come up with the weirdest crafts?
I was looking in my CottageLiving maz. The MAY/JUNE 2006 and found on page 28,a rope hanging chair. It was Macrame on a porch that had been redone,and it did take me back.I loved it and would like to find one, the closet place to New Ellenton,S.C. or it is next to AIKEN S.C.,IF ANYONE CAN TELL ME WHERE TO FIND ONE PLEASE LET ME HEAR FROM YOU, THIS ONE WAS $49.00.THANK YOU TO ANYONE THAT CAN HELP ME.
PATRICIA A.OWENS Opatnanny@aol.com
I inherited an unfinished Christmas Tree in macrame. I used to play with macrame, now this huge half tree hangs on my front porch, any ideas where i can find a pattern to finish it?
Hey I had one of those owls. ha
I was one of those persons who used to make 7 to 8 ft owl plant hangers with hemp rope. People loved them and I made more than I care to remember for other people. I never intended to sell them and so after making tons of them I stopped doing macrame. Now almost 40 years later I would love to do it again…it was great fun. But lost my favorite pattern book…and unfortunately they are most difficult to find.