I started making these for fun and to use up supplies we’ve had for awhile. But then I realized rubbing them between my palms is super satisfying, so I was encouraged to make more. After making two rainbow stripes with acrylic worsted weight yarn, Brooklyn suggested I use cotton because the feel of it is just better than acrylic.

A big part of the job before I could even start was to clean up and organize the beads bin. It had loose beads on the bottom and it had pony beads in several different bags. I sorted them by color and put each color in an empty prescription bottle (another great way to reuse those). That took awhile, but was super helpful to be able to determine what colors we have and what patterns if any I could make. My first thought is almost always ROYGBIV, and I had enough to do that pattern on the first three. On the fourth one, made for Alex on 7/13/25 to be larger to fit his palm size, I had to improvise the color pattern.

Alex uses his to rub between his palms and over the backs of his hands and wrists. He said it’s very stimulating for his hands and helps relieve pain in his wrists.