Page 272 - Lindsey Philpott "The Ultimate Book of Decorative Knots"

266 the ultimate book of decorative knots

Now for our last spherical TH Knot. This one has Divisor rule, because it, too, is a TH Knot. This
far more facets than the others and so I have not means that one cannot start out with a 5L6B TH
shown it in stages, just the finished article, which is Knot and add a PK of 3L6B, because the 3L6B has
very similar to Ashley’s #2218, but has more faces a common divisor and can therefore not be made
and a prolate spheroid (egg-shaped) cross-section. with one strand. As for the 5L7B and the 3L7B – yes
When showing someone a finished spherical it can! The PK then is a knot within a knot or a nest
TH Knot, I am often asked, ‘What would you use it of knots. The two (or more) knots usually share the
for?’ to which I readily respond, ‘Why, to look at of same number of bights top and bottom. The leads
course!’ The better answer is that you can use it for or passes can vary, however. We could conceivably
the covering of a gear stick, your favourite drawer begin with one PK of two Turk’s Heads and add a
pull-knobs (assuming they are spherical), a door third Turk’s Head to it to make yet another type of
handle covering for arthritic hands, a light pull-knob PK! Let’s stick with the simple ones for now.
covering, a cane-top covering, a covering for an The table opposite shows the possible PKs that
artist’s maul-stick (from the Dutch word maalstok, can be made from a regular TH Knot.
for ‘painter’s stick), a knob on the end of your From this we can see that, for example, a
fireside tongs, etc. 13L5B TH Knot can include within it a TH Knot
A word of caution; not all spherical knots can of 11L5B without either of the TH Knots violating
be formed from cylindrical TH Knots. In fact, some the Common Divisor or Golden Rule. Another
spherical knots have nothing to do with TH Knots, as example of a possible PK is the 5L23B, which will
we shall see in the chapter on spherical or Globe Knots. accommodate a 3L23B, again with neither knot
violating the Common Divisor rule. So where do
tHe PIneaPPle Knot we go from there? Knowing that a PK is possible is

The Pineapple Knot is one that also fascinates one thing, but how do we go about making it? The
people, probably just because of the name. Because first thing to do is to make the base TH Knot, so that
the pineapple comes from Asia as well as South we can build the next TH Knot into it to make a PK.
America, perhaps the Chinese as well as the gauchos Let’s select a 7L6B TH Knot and then build into it a
had a hand in naming this knot. The vaqueros of the 5L6B TH Knot.
plains of Argentina know pineapples as a wonderful Let’s also make a start by addressing some terms
fruit exemplified in Guayaquil, Venezuela, as the like ‘coding’ and as-yet unfamiliar terms like ‘sobre’
best fruit in South America. Meanwhile, in Asia, and ‘casa’ in relation to Pineapple Knotting.
they are celebrated by the Chinese as the symbol First, the subject of ‘coding’, which is a subject
of prosperity. Pineapple leaves in themselves are near and dear to the hearts of leather-braiders.
used to make a fibre so fine that it is used, in South The coding is simply the method of expressing the
America where the wild variety of pineapple grows, number of ‘overs’ and ‘unders’ in any particular turn
to string beads. Red pineapples, knotted from silk of the line around the knot. What we have seen so
cords, are symbols of prosperity and as such are far is all referred to as ‘O1, U1’, which stands for
very welcome in Chinese culture. The pineapple ‘over one, under one’ or the coding for how we make
knot is a variant of the TH Knot, formed by weaving the finished passes through our knot. We could
another TH Knot inside the first one – as if the first equally have spoken of ‘O1, U3, O1’ coding, which
one was not difficult enough! would again refer to the number of cords passed
The Pineapple Knot (hereafter PK) is normally over or under. It is simply the pattern of ‘overs and
made using a regular TH Knot with any odd number unders’ that we make with each successive move of
of leads as its base. For example – if you tie a 5L7B the cord around the perimeter of the finished knot.
TH Knot, you could conceivably weave a 3L7B Now, what do we mean by ‘sobre’ and ‘casa’
TH Knot inside the first TH Knot to make a PK. when referring to the coding? Sobre finishes by
However, the PK still has to obey the Common tucking up under a part adjacent to the standing