Page 174 - The New Encyclopedia of Knots

loops. Tuck each strand down through the same loop as its adjacent bight (figure 129.4). You must
now turn the knot upside down, where the emerging strands will again lie adjacent to a previous
bight. Tuck each strand down through the same loop as its adjacent bight again, and out through the

centre of the knot, so that they all emerge at the top of the knot.

figure 130.1

Stitch and whip eye: an alternative to splicing, used to make an eye in plaited rope. You will need a
thimble and about 3m (10ft) of thick whipping twine.

Begin by forming a bight in the rope for the eye, and insert the thimble, leaving yourself about 75mm

(3in) of tail. Using a sail needle threaded with the whipping twine, take a stitch with the needle as
close to the throat of the thimble as you can (figure 130.1), taking all of the twine through with the
exception of about 50mm (2in).

figure 130.2

Sew up to the end of the tail with diagonal stitches about every 15mm (0.5in), and then sew back to

the throat of the thimble again, at which point the 50mm (2in) end of the twine that was left behind
when the first stitch was made can now be cut short, and the two parts of the rope should be
hammered together to ensure that the rope is tightly drawn about the thimble.

Start the whipping as close to the thimble as possible, working away from the eye. When half way

along, take a stitch through the standing part of the rope (figure 130.2) and then continue the
whipping, ensuring that it is tightly wound and that all turns are taken snugly together. At the end make
five or six stitches through the standing part of the rope at an angle of 45 degrees, sewing away from
the eye, to secure the twine. The surplus twine can now be cut off and the eye is complete.

Stopper knot: as the name suggests, this is a knot that must not slip through a block, or indeed out of