Adults

Hygge Winter Away: Macrame Wall Hanging

Jan 3, 2020

$101-250

Byline

Darlene Hellenberg, Assistant Director, and Michelle Williamson, Adult Services Librarian, Ferndale (Mich.) Area District Library

For the first program in our Hygge Winter Away series, we taught adult patrons how to make a macramé wall hanging on a Thursday evening.

Hygge is a Scandanavian lifestyle practice that emphasizes a quality of coziness and comfort that can manifest a feeling of contentment or well-being. It is particularly helpful during the darker, colder winter months.

Advanced Planning

We’ve received a positive response to recent adult crafting programs, so our two adult programming librarians, Darlene and Michelle, discussed doing some winter-themed crafts. Our goals were to teach a new skill and provide a fun social evening for our patrons. We started planning the program in July 2019.

First we checked to see which books we had on the topic. Ours were outdated, so we ordered some new ones. We looked in those for a good pattern to use. We found one we liked and ordered supplies.

Our first challenge came when we realized the pattern was going to be too complicated, so we found a simpler one on YouTube. The next challenge involved finding the right cord. We tried the usual suspects (Michaels, Joanne’s, Home Depot) and struck out. After some internet searching, a few back-and-forth emails, and a few free samples, we finally found the right cord (8mm, three-strand, from Rock Mountain Co.).

Watching some simple “get started” videos on YouTube really helped with the initial set-up of our project. Once we got the basics, the rest fell into place.

Marketing

We made fliers (see Attachments, at the right) and did a press release. We also created a Facebook event.

Budgeting

Most of the money went to buying the cord. We wanted to have enough material for 30 people to attend. We also wanted the project to be something patrons would be proud of and want to hang on their wall. The rest was spent on the dowel rods and hot chocolate.

If you wanted to cut costs, you could make mini-macrame projects like keychains or a mini-wall hanging. You could also use less expensive cord.

Day-of-event Activity

We set up tables in three long rows so attendees could turn to see our PowerPoint presentation. We laid the supplies, a dowel rod and cord strands at each place, along with a handout with the knots we’d be teaching. We taped the dowels to the tables to keep the project steady while patrons worked.

We also had scrap paper and pencils so patrons could number their cords. We later had them write their names on the paper to enter a drawing for a macrame book door prize.

We had three help people set up. It took about 20 minutes.

Program Execution

Twenty-five people attended the program. Darlene went through the PowerPoint while Michelle and another staff member demonstrated on a dowel and cords.

There were varying levels of skill. Some people picked it up right away, while others needed more assistance. We had a video demonstration of the square knot on the screen so folks could refer to it.

Between staff and patrons everyone got the help they needed. Everyone finished their project and seemed very pleased.

We definitely achieved our goals. We wanted a good turnout, a smoothly run program and happy patrons. We got all of those things.

Advice

Make the project before you try and teach it to others.

Definitely watch some YouTube videos on the basics of macrame. We looked at a lot of books but it wasn’t nearly as helpful as having someone explain it to you.

Give yourself lots of time to learn and to find the right cord.