Spirit Week, Spring Fever, School Break - Knots for Everyone

Imagine four days of energized children and some parents sprinkled in, intent on learning and tying knots.

It was Spirit Week in Mystic Connecticut. A week of activities designed for grade school children during spring break in which we have participated for a few years now. 

Matt and I left the peaceful quiet of our workshop and headed over to the Mystic Aquarium where Spring Fever was alive with all sorts of activities. Here with the help of the aquarium volunteers we would give instructions on how to make our version of the survivor bracelet to busloads of children & parents. Thanks Mystic Aquarium for having us back!

The activity area was packed, the chatter, a wonderful mixture of laughter, singing, and serious knot discussion. Everyone was happy to be learning, using their hands and talking at the same time!

We had two long banquet tables set up with six tying stations each. The stations have pins and guidelines to keep your soon to be bracelet in line while under construction.

I soon realized we would knot be breaking for lunch :( Our two tables were fully occupied from 11 – 3. Other activities were in high gear all around us, live music, dancing, singing, all types of demonstrations, other hands on activities, bowling games, ring toss, and art stations. Too much fun!

During our immersion in what could almost be described as a chaos of joyous activity, I noticed our huge pile of pre-cut cord was missing. For every bracelet (and all the items we tie), a lot of time is spent pre-cutting cord into exact lengths. Our cord was missing!!

What will we do? We will have to shut down, there is no way we can cut enough cord to keep this crowd busy.

Sure enough a happy wee youngster had grabbed the pile of cord on his way by. His shocked parent turned him around and the cord was back.

Although never a dull moment we enjoyed sharing our knowledge and meeting new people of which many come back and visit our workshops in Downtown Mystic during the year. New stories, new friends, see you soon!

Here is the link to our survival bracelet tutorial. Enjoy!

All photography by Allie Dearie.