Page 221 - Adlard Coles "The Knot Bible"

Good luck knot
KNOT SCORE
It seems highly unlikely that this knot was ever tied in the rigging of even Strength
the most fancy square-rigger. More likely, sailors used it to make decorative Security
artefacts which they sold when they got to port – or possibly to decorate Diffi culty Tying
Diffi culty Untying
their own cabins. The large lobes on the good luck knot make it unsuitable
Usefulness
for key rings or suchlike, but it can make an attractive hanging ornament.

1 Fold the line in half, put in three 2 Pass the standing parts over the 3 Tighten the resulting anti-
bights, and arrange in a cross shape, right-hand bight, the right-hand bight clockwise crown (page 198), making
as shown. over the top bight, and the top bight sure the pairs of strands lie parallel
over the left-hand bight. Tuck the to each other.
left-hand bight into the fi rst loop.
KNOT KNOW-HOW

Ashley simply called this knot ‘a
four-looped knot with a double square
crown’, and it seems to have remained
nameless until 1981, when Lydia Chen
named it the good luck knot in her book
Chinese Knotting. The Japanese name
for it is the chrysanthemum. There are
dozens of variations with different
numbers of petals, including a nine-petal
version, and one with fl owers.

4 Tie a clockwise crown, passing 5 Tighten the knot, adjusting the
each bight and the standing parts three loops to the desired size. The
over its neighbour. Tuck the fi nal knot can be used like this, or...
bight in the loop created by the
fi rst bight.

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