Knotted Yarn Watch Strap

Everyone has a favorite of everything. A favorite flavor of ice cream. A favorite book. A favorite pair of jeans -- where you're torn between wearing them all the time and looking amazing (but wearing them out) and preserving them (and looking stellar as often).

I wore my favorite watch every single day. It was stylish, it was minimal, and furthermore: it was waterproof. I could forget to take it off before swimming and still be in the clear.

That was, until one day the strap broke.

I had three choices: find a watch repairman who does strap replacements, buy a new watch, or use it as an excuse to try out something she found thanks to Pinterest.

Option C, I choose you.

For this, I needed: three sets of yarn (two colors that you want as your straps, one that doesn't matter -- for this, I choose blue and black as my strap colors), a strapless watch, and a needle/thread.

I lace the "base" yarn around each of the clock's loop and knotted the ends. The knots didn't matter, as the yarn was obviously far longer than strap size and would be trimmed eventually.

I tied the other two pieces of yarn on opposite ends of the base.


In case the website isn't clear enough: to create this knot, place the yarn on top of the base, loop it under, and pool it through the loop. Lather, rinse, repeat on the opposite side.

Once I hit the right length, I used the blue and black yarn to create a few double knots and trimmed the rest of the base. I sewed on the watch clasp from my original strap.

I quickly realized that, without any reinforcement, the yarn by my watch was going to quickly break, so I decided to sew the yarn to the watch's loop as well.

I measured how long the second strap should be and knotted accordingly. I would end up making at least three adjustments (including one after I thought I had "finished" and packed everything away).

Before attaching the other pieces of yarn, I moved the knot until it was essentially under the watch, since I quickly realized that a knotted loop wouldn't exactly fit through a watch clasp so narrow.

I finished the second strap a centimeter or before the edge and double knotted the blue and black yarn. To make the loop at the end thinner (because the clasp really is that narrow), I sewed around the yarn with thread.


I quickly found that putting this watch on without help was downright impossible. This becomes immensely easier once you incorporate a large bobby pin into the mix (the kind with a wide berth, meant for thick/thick clumps of hair). Hook the bobby pin into the loop, feed it through the clasp, and onto the latch.

I also quickly realized that yarn can stretch a bit, causing the strap to become uncomfortably loose. To fix this, I made the loop smaller by sewing closed the upper half.

But hey, live and learn (and make more watch straps).