Boondoggle: Making Bracelets with Plastic Lace

Frances Emery is an editor and writer living in Nepean, Ontario.

Remember boondoggle? (or perhaps you called it gimp or just plastic
lacing). It’s that stuff we wove into innumerable bracelets during
long, hot summers, and then traded with our dearest friends. But as far
as I can remember, my friends and I knew only one or two simple
patterns, and it was always difficult to begin or end a piece neatly. If
we’d had this wonderful little book, our skills would have known no
bounds.

Camilla Gryski, the author, and Linda Hendry, the superb illustrator,
explain in clear detail how to measure the correct amount of lacing,
start the knotting process, work around the bracelet, keep the pattern
in order, and, finally, end it securely and neatly. They teach several
different patterns, from the simplest, quick-and-easy bracelet to
complex and attractive two- and three-color products with names like
“the cobra” and “the spiral staircase.” This book’s success
lies in its marriage of clear, lucid language and beautiful
illustration. Photographs of the finished article and simple watercolor
sketches of each stage in the construction (beginning, weaving, tying
off, and joining) make each step simple to follow.

Then, too, the book’s price is unbeatable. Where else can you buy a
summer’s fun for under six dollars? Highly recommended.