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To Gimp or Not to Gimp

Should your kids ever ask you if you're into gimp, don't panic. "Gimp" doesn't refer to a creepy elderly homeless guy with a limp that hangs around the railroad tracks. No they're not into old Westerns either. Neither is it a video game, cell phone accessory, new type of music or a dance craze. What they are referring to, or at least what I hope they are, is plastic lace. Otherwise known as "Boondoggle," "RexLace," craftlace, and "Scooby-doo."(Not affiliated with the bottomless pit tummy cartoon dog)

It looks like what it is. A simple flat plastic lace actually made from flexible PVC, the same stuff plumbing pipes are made from. Unlike the pipe that comes only in basic white, Gimp comes in every color of the rainbow and then some. Available in spools up to 100 yards long it is extremely inexpensive.(as little as $2/spool) It also comes in much smaller lengths(one-tenth as long) for the same price, so shop around! Not for eating or flushing, it's most common use is for weaving. Although it is flexible and elastic to some degree, it's not indestructible and it can break.

Used to create anything from lanyards and key chains to bracelets, hearts, flower petals, boats, and rocket ships, gimp is a tool for the imagination.

Basic stitches include the , butterfly, brick, Chinese staircase, circle, cobra, corkscrew, cross, diamond braid, fluted columns, fluted spiral, king cobra, pentagon, quad, spiral braid, square, three strand braid, super brick, tornado, triangle, twist, twisted cobra, twisted triangle, and the zipper stitch.

If all that didn't scare you away and you've chosen at least one stitch to master, let me tell you some of the fun color-filled projects awaiting your idle hands:

Key chains-shaped from a simple straight lanyard, to a "Jesus" fish, to a rocket ship, boat, oval, circle, links, twists, dragonflies, butterflies, and just about anything a child's imagination can dream up with or without tassels
Bracelets-beaded or non-beaded, flat or round, banded or strap
Flowers-using straws for stems and plastic or terra-cotta planters for bases
Necklaces and Belts if you really want to spend all that time untangling knots and you remember it can break-especially as a belt or purse strap or a purse for that matter

Obviously it is a fairly cheap hobby. And as long as you limit yourself to the smaller projects, not too time consuming. Anyone with reasonable hand-eye coordination can make most items within a couple of hours, once you've mastered the stitching that is.

Learn more about this author, James Sarti.
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