Knot

“ Such knots are (were) made e.g. a) on a so-called “wrestin-tread” [‘thread’] which is (was) bound round a sprained or dislocated limb and is (was) accompanied by a magic formula, b) on a fishing hand-line or long-line when the end of it chances (chanced) to stick fast to the sea-bottom (Un) , c) on a rope which is tied round the body of a sick animal (esp. that of a sick cow) (comm.) . Sometimes “de a. knot” was employed also of the eagle-knot, de ern’s knot (hitches which were made on a string after an eagle had flown away, to get it to let go its prey) , aba [āba] -knot (U. occas., Fe.) ”

“ This last knot can be made by making a large loop, and then holding the string in place with one finger until the knot is slid down against the pasteboard arm and drawn tightly in place; a second and third knot, tied over this, will make it large enough for the purpose, and the arms will be found to move freely, up or down (See Fig. 289, Chapter XXIV.) .
Figs. 154-157.
Attach the legs in the same manner; if you will now thrust a small stick through both the clown’s fists you can make him take all the positions of a trained circus-man, by twirling the horizontal stick between your fingers. ”

“ It was sustained with but a single knot, a bow-knot--they had learned to make a bow-knot and other knots in the stone age, for, because of the manual requirements for living, they were cleverer fumblers with their fingers than we are now--and the lady here described had tied her knot in a manner not to be excelled by any other woman in all the fiercely beast-ranged countryside. ”

“ The wall-knot is so made with the lays of a rope that it cannot slip, and serves for sheets, tacks, and stoppers. Knots are generally used to act as a button, in preventing the end of a rope from slipping through the hole of a dead-eye, or through the turns of a laniard, by which they are sometimes made fast to other ropes.—Knot also implies a division on the log line, bearing a similar proportion to a mile, which half a minute does to an hour ”

“ Still the statement was so determinedly repeated by successive authors that Linnaeus followed them in calling the species Tringa canutus, and so it remains with nearly all modern ornithologists. [3] Rather larger than a snipe, but with a shorter bill and legs, the knot visits the coasts of some parts of Europe, Asia and North America at times in vast flocks ”

“ Knoten, masculine, ‘knot,’ from Middle High German knote, knode, masculine, ‘natural knot (on the body and plants) , artificial knot in a thread, noose’; Old High German chnodo, chnoto, masculine (the Old High German and Middle High German doublets with t and d appear in Knote and Knödel even as late as Modern High German) . Allied to Anglo-Saxon cnotta, masculine, English knot, with differently related dentals; compare Old Icelandic ú-knytter, ‘dirty tricks, and Middle High German knotze, feminine, ‘protuberance’ ”

“ The “knot” is formed to make a knob on a rope, generally at the extremity, and by untwisting the strands at the end and weaving them together. But it may be made by turning the rope on itself through a loop, as for instance, the “overhand knot” (fig. 1) . A “bend” (from the same root as “bind”) , and a “hitch” (an O.E. word) , are ways of fastening or tying ropes together, as in the “Carrick bend” (fig. 21) , or round spars as the Studding Sail Halyard Bend (fig. 19) , and the Timber Hitch (fig. 20) . ”

“ Make a single wall knot with the other three strands round the said bights and shroud; haul the knot taut first and stretch the whole; then heave down the bights close: it will look like the ordinary shroud knot. It is very liable to slip. If the ends by which the wall knot is made after being hove were passed through the bights, it would make the knot stronger. The ends would be tapered and served.
Flemish Eye (fig. 38) .—Secure a spar or toggle twice the circumference of the rope intended to be rove through the eye ”

“ Knot, not, n. a wading-bird much resembling a snipe, sometimes said, but without evidence, to be named from King Cnut or Canute.
Knot, not, n. a bunch of threads or the like entangled or twisted: an interlacement of parts of a cord, &c., by twisting the ends about each other, and then drawing tight the loops thus formed: a piece of ribbon, lace, &c., folded or tied upon itself in some particular form, as shoulder-knot, breast-knot, &c.: anything like a knot in form: a bond of union: a difficulty: the gist of a matter: a cluster: the part of a tree where a branch shoots out: an epaulet: (naut.) ”

“ My feathered friends tell me of a bird called the knot, something like a snipe in shape, whose color is ashen gray in winter and bright Indian red in summer. They say he is very particular about the weather, and likes best fine bracing days with sunshine and a moderate breeze; so, in winter he flies south, but in summer he goes farther north than man has yet been able to go. ”

“ A half knot as it appears at back is longer than wide. The rows of knots are pressed down so that the warp is concealed at back. Warp, wool. One of the two threads encircled by a knot is generally depressed below the other at the back. Weft, wool of fine diameter, generally dyed red. A thread of weft crosses twice between every two rows of knots. Pile, wool, of medium length. Border, three to five stripes. Sides, a red added selvage of two or three cords. Both ends, a narrow web and warp fringe. Texture, moderately firm. Weave at back is of medium grain. ”

“ The knot is the universal “fisherman’s knot” or becket hitch made in the usual manner. The method of using the mesh stick, however, is rather peculiar, and somewhat clumsy compared with that used by civilized net-makers, as it serves only to measure the mesh and not also to hold the successive meshes as they are made. It is a long flat piece of bone or antler, shaped like a case knife, with a blade square at heel and point. There is often also a little blunt hook (as in Fig. 316, No. 56581 [1021] ) at the point, bending upward or toward the back of the blade. ”

“ After the knot has been well stretched the ends are tapered, laid smoothly between the strands of the shroud, and firmly served over. This knot is used when shrouds or stays are broken. French Shroud Knot.—Marry the parts with a similar amount of and as before; stop one set of strands taut up on the shroud (to keep the parts together) , and turn the ends back on their own part, forming bights. ”

“ He lay there with his knees hunched up, the sunlight glaring on the white spread, and smiled at the knot in the left-hand upper panel of his closet door. The knot and he were getting to be pretty good friends. When he [100] awoke in the morning the knot was always the first thing to meet his gaze, and of late it had seemed to have a welcome for him. There is a lot of expression in a knot if you look at it a long time, and sort of half close your eyes and—and—
Dan gave a start. He had almost gone to sleep again. ”

“ It is also used to form collars around stanchions or spars, and, placed around a rope close beneath a man-rope knot, it gives a beautiful finish. When made of small line sailors often use the Turk's Head as a neckerchief fastener. Although so elaborate in effect, it is really an easy knot to make, and while you may have difficulty in getting it right at first a little patience and practice will enable you to become proficient and capable of tying it rapidly and easily in any place or position. ”

“ With the left hand pass d over c down through the loop, after which you will have the knot represented in Fig. 17, which can be at once drawn apart by the ends e and f.
Fig. 18.
Fig. 19.
A breastknot is only an ornament. It can be tied with ribbon, and makes a very pretty bow, or can be used by the ladies as a frog for a sacque. It consists, first, of three half-hitches overlapping each other as in Fig. 18. Interweave the part a under b and over c; b over a and under d. Then draw out the bight a over e, and the bight b over f, when we will have the knot as in Fig. 19. ”

“ D shows a mode by which the end of a rope may be quickly fastened to a ring. E and F are lark knots, used for fastening the painters of boats or canoes; it is only necessary, in case of sudden attack or alarm, to pull out the stop stick to instantly free the painter without untying. G is a bowline knot, which is applicable to any purpose where it is requisite to have a loop which will not run home. H is a hawser bend, which can be expeditiously made use of for joining the ends of large ropes. I is a knot commonly made use of for securing a hawser to a mooring post. ”

“ Complete the knot by crossing the reverse [Pg 117] way again and tighten to finish. Quite a pretty fringe can be made by working a row of four of these flat knots in succession over four strands, one knot below the other; the second row has the knots made on four strands—two strands taken from each of the groups immediately above—this brings the knots of the second row alternating with those of the upper row, as in Fig. 36.
Twisting and Crossing.—Fig. 39 gives a little hand-made braid, very useful for many purposes, for small headings, or for finishings, edges, or seams. ”

“ Fig. 187, J shows a simple boat knot with one turn.
Fig. 187, K. "Crossed running knot." It is a strong and handy tie, not as difficult to make as it appears to be.
Fig. 187, L is the bow-line knot, described by the diagrams XII and XIII (Fig. 186) . The free end of the knot is made fast by binding it to the "bight," or the loop. It makes a secure sling for a man to sit in at his work among the rigging.
Fig. 187, M, N, and O. "Slip clinches," or "sailors' knots."
Fig. 1871⁄2, Q shows a rope fastened by the chain-hitch. ”

“ The end under the knot displays the face and the fold itself the lining. Some people keep the knot from coming loose by tying a cord over it round the obi, while others merely tighten it when it slackens. ”

“ The principle of a knot is that no two parts which lie adjacent shall travel in the same direction if the knot should slip. Knots are employed for several purposes, such as, to attach two rope ends together, to form an enlarged end on a rope, to shorten a rope without cutting it, or to attach a rope to another rope or object. ”

“ KNOT. A large knob formed on the extremity of a rope, generally by untwisting its ends, and interweaving them regularly among each other; of these there are several sorts, differing in form, size, and name, as [426] diamond knot, kop knot, overhand knot, reef knot, shroud knot, stopper knot, single wall knot, double wall knot. The bowline knot is so firmly made, and fastened to the cringles of the sails, that they must break, or the sails split, before it will slip. (See Running Bowline.) The sheepshank knot serves to shorten a rope without cutting it, and may be presently loosened. ”

“ When this knot is quite snug down in its place, take about one-third of the yarns out of the ends with which the knot was made, and tuck the remaining two-thirds under two strands, missing [Pg 95] one (see Fig. 121, where the arrow D shows how to tuck the end A, and arrowhead C shows where end B will come out) . Now halve these ends, and, leaving one-half, tuck the other as before; work them in nice and snug, put the grommet on a good stretch, and trim off the ends. If the work is well done no joint should be noticeable. ”

“ Fig. 3. The Figure Eight knot is similar to the over-hand knot except that the loose end of the rope is passed through the loop from the opposite side. It is commonly used to prevent a rope running through an eye or ring or tackle block. It is also used as the basis for ornamental knots, etc.
Fig. 4. The Double Figure Eight knot is made by forming a regular figure eight and then following around with the end of the other rope as shown.
Fig. 5. The Square knot is probably the commonest and most useful of all knots. It is strong and does not become jammed when being strained. ”

“ And in general, wherever one chops or cuts part of the stem or bough, a knot is formed, as though one thing were made thereby into two and a fresh growing point produced, the cause being the mutilation or some other such reason; for the effect of such a blow cannot of course be ascribed to nature.
Again in all trees the branches always seem to have more knots, because the intermediate parts [15] have not yet developed, just as the newly formed branches of the fig are the roughest, [16] and in the vine the highest [17] shoots. ”

“ ROPE FORMATION.
Knotting is an ancient device with which very early inhabitants of this earth must have been acquainted. From the beginning, mankind must always have used some kind of knot to join animal sinews, plant fibres, or hide strips which, in ancient days, were the prototypes of the varieties of cordage now employed.
A large number of knots has been invented by the skill of man, and on their strength and correct tying depend the lives of thousands and thousands of workmen—seamen, building trade operatives, etc., day by day. ”

“ But when the priest came, she would marry only the one who could take the heads off the knot without cutting it. "Who should take the heads off the knot but the man that put the heads on?" said the king.
The General tried them; but he could not loose them; and at last there was no one about the house but had tried to take the heads off the knot, but they could not. The king asked if there were any one else about the house that would try to take the heads off the knot. They said that the herd had not tried them yet. ”