Threading blocks & counting rope

Step 1

Buy or make some wooden counters with a hole through the middle. Look at our Guide to palm drills if you want more information about drilling your own counters.
You’ll also need a length of string with a slightly smaller diameter than the hole.

If you are making the drill holes yourself, use your drill directly down through the item onto a hard surface.

Step 2

Make a nice pile of wooden threading blocks.

Have fun threading the string or lace through the blocks.

Big threading

If you use a bigger drill, such as a carpenters drill and brace or an electric drill, then you can drill bigger blocks that can be threaded onto rope to create a bigger threading set.

Counting rope

If you alternate the blocks in sets of five, between shorter and longer blocks, or use different diameters, you can create a counting rope.