Page 18 - The Ashley Book of Knots

ON KNOTS

Often there is a certain way to make a knot that is either easy to

remember, easy to tie, or so economical of effort that it deserves to

be generally adopted. Usually this preferred way is the sailors', al-

though in the case of bends for small material the weaver has been

most prolific. Methods vary both with the vocation employing a knot

and with the size and texture of the material used.

1,2. The SHEET BEND (~I) and the WEAVER'S KNOT (~2) are

structurally identical but are tied by different methods and in differ-

ent materials, the former being tied in rope, the latter in thread or

yarn. A different way either of tying or of applying a form generally

constitutes a second knot.

I.

Methods of tying will be demonstrated with progressive diagrams

in such manner that it is hoped they can be followed without re-

course to the text.

This, however, may not suit all readers, for there are some people

to whom diagrams are an annoyance. There are others to whom an

arrow or the printed letters A and B savor of higher mathematics.

On the other hand there are some who are irked by written or

printed directions of any sort. Sometimes, with the latter, it is possible

to have another person read aloud the directions. This alters the

situation for them, since they can follow oral directions with ease.

~pparently it is only the printed page that balks them.

But despite a few such individualists, no knot in my opinion is too

complicated to be clearly illustrated and adequately described; and

for any shortcoming in either direction an author should hold himself

responsible. I do not mean by this that all knots are simple. There

are some in the following pages that will tax the ingenuity and re-

quire the undivided attention of any adult expert, and there are

practices for which the hand must be disciplined, the eye held steady,

and the mind kept open and alert.

Several years ago, from my printed directions in the Sportsman

Magazine, and with no other assistance, my cousin, Hope Knowles,

tied without error KNOT ~ 2217, which has forty-nine crossings,

making therewith a covering for the knob of her father's automobile

gear-shift lever. She was barely eleven years old at the time.

Previous to this demonstration I had considered writing two

books, one of an elementary nature for boys and girls, and another,

more advanced, for adults. But this decided me that one book was

enough, and that there are few knots that an intelligent boy or girl

of twelve or fourteen years, who is genuinely interested in the sub-

ject, cannot tie, provided the description is clear enough.

For several reasons drawings are used here for illustrations instead

of photographs, the most important reason of course being that since

I am an artist this is my usual method of expression. But drawings

also have certain definite advantages over photographs. There need

never be any doubt, in a drawing, as to which is the end of a rope

and which is the standing part. In the photograph of an actual knot,

the standing part appears cut off as well as the end, so that often the

two cannot be told apart.