A LONG time ago, Willike taught us how to tie the Chinese Button knot. Part way through you have a Carrick formed nicely on your finger and a loop around your finger. Extending this method it makes tying the Carrick loop an absolute doddle.
I will try to describe the method first and if this doesn’t work I will make some photos.
I am right handed so these instructions are for a ‘rightie’.
If the loop is to be made around an object, pass the end around / through the object first, then lay the end across the fingers of your left hand with the end hanging down past your pinkie finger.
Bring the SP back from the object (or from a free hanging loop) and bring it between the index and next finger (pinch it by holding it between the index and next finger).
bring the SP towards yourself, around the outside of your left thumb, around the thumb and then let it drop across the palm with the end.
Move your thumb tip across and pinch the end against the index finger. Slop Slip the loop that is around the thumb off the thumb and lay it over your index finger, then pull a small loop of the end cord up through this loop.
Take the end, pass it behind (i.e. away from you) the SP and bring it up the RHS of the SP, then pass it through the small loop of itself that has been pulled up, forming the carrick.
Take the leg of the loop that goes over the top of the index finger in one hand and the SP in the other and pull to form the Carrick structure.
Note - Don’t just pull the SP against both loop legs, this will not fold the structure into the Carrick before the load goes on.
Derek
I finally succeeded in tying it following those directions, but I find the Wave method a lot simpler. There is however an element in the Wave method that one must put attention to, and it is that the round turn picked from the standing part must be taken from its backside (or the other loop leg) in order to make the knot form diagonally from the standing part. I find it easiest to do with the standing part hanging and twisting up a turn just as done in the bowline, or it can be done from the front when the loop is away from you, as in the video clip.
The method, right-handed, is as follows:
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First pass the end around the object you are going to hitch to.
(Visually it might be less confusing if you pass the end from left around to the right side,
as you will grip it with your right hand and hold the standing part with your left.)
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Take a bight of the end with your right hand, u-turn with U uppermost upside down, with the end hanging to the right.
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In your left hand, hold the standing part hanging down.
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Lay the U-turn bight of the end over the hanging SP, and hold it with the thumb together with the SP and twist up a turn, where the U of the bight comes up through the turn. The end is now to the left of the bight of the U-turn.
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The end is taken over the SP and under the other leg of the loop (the one coming back from around the object) and then back through the U-turn that comes up through the turn taken in the SP.
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The knot is drawn up by pulling the SP away from the loop leg you were working with.
It is a lot simpler and faster to do than to describe, and the method also works for tying the Carrick Bend (see http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2181.msg15294#msg15294), although modified in the way that the round turn twisting is done from the end of the left-hand line. You always have to make sure that the pull in a Carrick Bend is diagonal, and in the loop, it must be diagonally from the SP toward one of the legs.
I made a videoclip to show the idea. It is difficult not to get in the way of the camera, in reality, it is done in one floating movement, with the right hand pulling the end through the bight coming up of the round turn that is twisted up from the standing part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHtaazb1dOk
ABOK599. Is that what you’re takling about?
I will try to describe the method first and if this doesn't work I will make some photos.
Yes please, I have persevered but I go wrong somewhere and don’t end up with a Carrick.
It is a lot easier to follow from the sketches in ABoK #599, but I find the Wave method swifter.