About Knots

 Introduction to knots

Some of us met up on the kitchen worktop to practice our knots.

'OK', said Jade, 'we'll use this blue parachute cord' and the coloured one.'

'Help me pull it out straight from its storage knot.'

'Keep going'

'It's so much easier to store like that!'

'There are some tatty ends on this cord so let's start by putting a stopper knot at each end. Just make a loop, feed the end through the loop and pull it tight.'

'I'll cut the end and clean it up in a minute.'

'OK' said Sid, 'I'm going to put a double stopper knot in this cord'.

'I just put 2 loops in the cord then put the end through.'

'Pull it tight and there it is!'

If I'm using this end to tie a knot, it's called the "Working End".
The rest of the rope is called the "Standing Part".

'Right', said Skip. 'Which knots are we going to tie?'

'Let's all pick our favourite knots', said Jade.

 

GIJoe asked why some knots are called knots and some are called hitches.  

'Well', said Skip,' USUALLY a knot is used to tie two ropes together or to tie the ends of a single piece of rope. A hitch is used to secure a piece of rope to something solid.  Then there are bends, loops, splices, whippings and lashings. I think we'll just take each knot as it comes....'