Saturday - June 12, 2010
I Am Knot Alone
If you’ve ever had a crisis of confidence over some of the most basic bits of life ...
you are not alone!!
From Instapundit, who linked to Manolo For Men, who linked to The New York Times, who linked to Runner’s World, comes a short post, complete with a 2 minute video on
So simple ... yet 4 levels of links? That implies we all have those moments of self-doubt, even about simple stuff we learned as little kids!
Right over Left, then Left over Right. This makes a Square Knot, also called a Reef Knot.
Right over Left, make a loop, then make your second loop and go Left over Right. This makes a Shoelace Knot, though properly it should be called a Double Slipped Reef Knot.
When you tie it right and pull it tight, the loops and aglets lie to the side. When you tie it wrong (ie Right over Left then Right over Left) one loop points towards your toe and the other loop points towards your leg. Spaz-o.
Crisis of Confidence? Yes. I had to go and check. Because sometimes I get that up-pointing loop thing. Does this mean I’m such a simpleton I don’t know how to tie my own shoes? No. It turns out I was properly instructed as a child and have been doing it properly my entire life (phew!!). But a few seconds of experimenting showed me that if your hand twists while you’re pushing the second loop through, you can turn over the second loop which puts it on the wrong side (front vs rear, ie upside down) relative to the first loop. So even though you’ve tied your shoes properly, you still wind up with loops that are a bit twisted. Semi-spaz-o.
Want a better way? Use an Al Bundy, aka a Shoe Salesman’s Knot. Right over Left, make a loop, then the bunny goes twice around the tree, form your second loop, then Left over Right as the bunny goes back down both the holes! This one lies straight even if your second loop goes through upside down.
Yeah, I know, I’m mixing my knot metaphors, combining the square knot words with the bowline description. But that second trip around the tree makes the double slipped reef knot more like a taughtline hitch around a bight, secured by an overhand knot; when pulled tight it binds much better than a simple shoelace knot. And that means it takes a much firmer tug on the laces to untie it, hopefully more than can be produced by the sticky little fingers attached to annoying children in the shoe store.
Ok, sure, fine, “Ian”, the apparent online master of How To Tie Your Shoes pages, from whom I snagged the graphic even though his is tied backwards to mine, calls this one the Better Bow shoelace knot, and he also has a variant called the Surgeon’s Shoelace knot that loops the whole bow around twice instead. Turns out that there are loads of pages out there on how to tie your own shoes! Mass misunderstanding, huge numbers of people with nagging doubts, attempts to help parents with one of the more difficult bits of early childhood? Maybe. Once mastered though, it can be a vector for expressing your individualism. Kids today probably just use Velcro tabs instead.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/12/2010 at 11:57 AM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •
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