[i]I am making a lanyard using emboidery floss for a company that will pay me if the lanyard is made correctly. This lanyard is made with round knots. Two braids made from 78 inches of floss for each braid. Then lay the two braids over each other in a North, South , East and West direction. Use two colors of floss and when finished you have a striped patteren in the tube of the lanyard. The company wants me to make this lanyard with all knots even. That is every segment appearing on the outside of the tube all the same size.
I made a board with a hole in the middle to place the tube of the lanyard in. That way the lanyard stands straight up in the air when tying. Also I am tying around a sewing needle. Tying the knots around the needle keeps the knots all the same size. Now I need a way to keep all the four segments in each knot all the same size. Is there a way to keep all the loops in a knot the same size without adjusting the braids making the knots after each knot is tied?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Cindy 
Hi Cindy,
Welcome to the forum! Nice to hear that someone is getting paid… To help us to help you could you please post a photograph of the knots in progress? You make reference to a round knot - if you have the Ashley Book of Knots can you reference the knot in there? It is not in his index so it may have a different name. It sound as if you may need to tension each knot after tying to get the same size for all - can you tell us if the round knot is a round braid? Your assistance would be greatly appreciated so that we can better help you. ;D
SR
SR thank you for the welcome. I did try tension and think that is the answer. I was hoping to find a tool to help with keeping the four braids tight. Two kept tight while pulling the other two braids. or maybe all four.
I am going to post an article that describes the knot used and how to tie it. Also will post a website address with a picture of the knot being tied.
To begin, take two strands of craftlace, fold them together (length will depend on the type of lanyard) and tie a knot at toward the top to hold them securely together. You now have four strings secured at the top.
Spread the four strings apart, separately, pointing in each cardinal direction of a compass. Hold the ?west? string with one finger (close to the knot). At the same time, pull the ?west? string over the ?north? string.
Continuing on, cross the ?north? string? over the ?east? string. At this point the ?north? string is covering both the ?west? string and the ?east? string. Now cross the ?east? string over the ?south? string. Finally, cross the ?south? string over the ?west? string.
At this point pull each end of the four string extremely tight to make the first knot. Continue crossing the strings in the same manner until the desired length is reached. The knots will produce a rounded lanyard.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o313/mountainlakedecor/Picture039.jpg
This is a site with the knot used made in a different way and out of a different material.
http://boondoggleman.com/prj_circle_stitch.htm
Thank you again
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
Your explanation was very good and helped me to visualize it - I did not open your photo yet but I will do so after posting this reply. What you are describing is a process called crowning by knot-tyers here (and elsewhere) which will indeed make round braid - now that I understand, I think I can help. To get even tension on each line try winding each piece of floss around a small cardboard piece with some weight added to it - maybe wrap a few pennies to the cardboard with aluminum foil so that each piece has the same weight. Then, when you wrap the floss around each piece of covered and weighted cardboard, the weight on each piece will be the same and the tension will be the same for each piece every time because the weight will not change (it actually changes a very little by the weight of the floss getting a little smaller each time - but that’s being WAAY too picky!). Wrapping around the cardboard should be secured with a half-hitch, so that the floss does not run off the end. Let us know if you need any other help. ;D
SR
SR
Thank you so much. I am going to try your idea of what to use to hold the tension. I am very proud of myself for getting this far with the right idea. I am totally new to knot tying. I so appreciate your help and you taking the time to help. I do think I will read, study and enjoy learning much more about knot tying from this forum and the info given. Need to purchase some books and do alot of study and practice.
Again thank you
Cindy