Page 13 - Knots You Need to Know Easy-to-Follow Guide to the 30 Most Useful Knots

Unraveled to show its anatomy, a typical rope is built up from fibers
twisted in a counterclockwise direction or into so-called right-handed
yarns. The yarns, in turn, are formed into strands, and the strands laid up
into rope. The direction of the twist reverses at each step so that the last
twist conventionally is a right-handed one.

In a completed rope the strands are twined diagonally to the rope’s
length, but the yarns within each strand lie parallel. The ultimate in fiber

construction, the cable-laid rope (above) is formed from three ropes
twisted together. Used for docking lines on large ships, the cable has
greater elasticity than standard rope of equal diameter.