Hey. I never post or read here (except a few times some years ago) and maybe I should, but I am finally getting around to showing describing to you folks this tying method I came up with for the Emerald Knot (ABOK #745) probably three or four years ago. Here are the notes I wrote down then:
[ol]- Do initial pass of star knot (ABOK #727, or the equivalent just "hitches around each strand" thing.) - Pull and straighten the strands until you get it in shape like in ABOK #727, upper right diagram. At this point, it should feel like the strands are pulled straight---though they really aren't. Whatever. - Now take each strand around. This happens in two steps:[li]Take the strand and lead it around (in the direction it was already going) and *pass* the next corner/loop/strand. This has to be done right. normally there will be two strands at this corner: the one that started out there and the one that was brought in (with the second step) from the previous corner. You need to pass the strand you're working with *between* those two strands. The "original" one should end up below this strand, and the "new" strand (that came in from the last corner you did) should be above. [list] [li]But the *first* strand is different! (Aren't you glad you read ahead?) The first strand doesn't have two strands there yet. Even though it doesn't seem to make sense, you have to pass this strand "inside" the corner, i.e. over the original "resident" strand in that loop. [/li] - Then put your strand through the following corner/loop, upward from below, beside the "resident" strand that was already there. [li]Similarly, this is special for the *last* strand, where you're going back into the first corner again (well, actually the second. The one that was "skipped" the first time). Here, the "passing" strand (that was supposed to split between ones that were here) is already here, and you're adding the upper strand that is being split. Took me a while to work out how this is done. You need to push the "crossing" strand that's already there to the "outside" and then go through the loop without going past (up or down past) the crossing strand. The crossing strand stays below the one you're working. That's why crossing inside the first time around was counter-intuitive, because we know that this has to end up on the outside. Now go back to corner you skipped, and take the bottom strand (if there are two) as the next strand. Note that it will be passing by the one you just were in, splitting the two strands you left.[/li][/list][/li]
- When you’ve gone all around, you’re done. Gather the strands together at the top, pull and fair and dress the knot into shape.
[/ol]
I came back to this recently, and even with these instructions it took me a while to get it again. The thing in #2 about “straightening” the strands refers to pulling them so that the strand you went around is the one that is bent into a loop, not the strand that you took around it. Look at the ABOK diagram.
That last strand was hard to follow and I’m not sure I can say it better even now. (If only there were something I could post here that would be worth a thousand words…)
My question for you, though, is: is this really the Emerald Knot? Looking it over again, I’m pretty sure it is, actually. But it doesn’t seem as nice, at least tied in single strands: some of the strands seem very vertical.
The other question is: is this tying method helpful for you?
(as a bonus, you can try just going around and putting each strand into the next loop (instead of passing one) and you get a smaller knot which has some appeal, but I think falls short in some respects.)
Please let me know what you think!