Sadly, I grew up in a knot-deprived home. Even though my father was a Scout Leader and sportsman, and I was Brownie, Girl Scout, and Camp Fire Girl, I never learned to make anything more elaborate than the knots to tie my shoes, and a granny knot.
For most of my life this hasn’t been a huge concern. But this lack of skill/knowledge really showed itself when it came time to stringing the Roman shades for our new home. Sure, granny knots secured the string to the bottom blind panel well enough, but they absolutely couldn’t hold up to the constant wear and abuse of the pull cord used to raise and lower the shade.
We put up with falling-apart pulls for the first few years, but a frayed and broken string finally forced us re-string the living room shades. And since we were re-stringing anyway, re-visit the options for knots using an actual book.
Requirements: a strong knot that would actually become stronger and tighter as weight is applied, and a knot that would have the waste or cut end traveling upward instead of down from the knot. The Figure Eight Noose seemed to fill the bill, and is made to attach rope to a carabiner. Any knot that is used in rock climbing is a knot to be respected, in my opinion.
The reason this knot is called the Figure Eight, is that you’re basically making an “8” with the cord.
See the eight?
And finally put it tight.
The noose closes up as weight is applied, and the final knot is well-concealed within the wooden bead I use as part of my pull.
Three down, a dozen more to go...
*A nod to Portlandia season2. For my local peeps who have never heard of or seen Portlandia, the Portland they depict has a lot of similarities to our town...
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