Knots to keep someone busy?

Hello. I would like to create something to keep someone busy while I
work. I'm thinking of a piece of cord with a number of knots in it
that he can work on untying. I don't want him to be frustrated, just
challenged by this. I am a knots novice: Which knots would be good
for this? Which material?

Any help you will give me on this diversion will be appreciated.

Amy

What about teaching him to do simple three strand crown knotting? It is
fairly easy to do, and once you become good at it youcan create some really
neat stuff. I have some good illustrations showing the process of tying one
that I could scan in and send to you if you like. Let me know.

Cheers,
Jason
Also a novice knotter


"iwillinvent" wrote in message
om...
Hello. I would like to create something to keep someone busy while I
work. I'm thinking of a piece of cord with a number of knots in it
that he can work on untying. I don't want him to be frustrated, just
challenged by this. I am a knots novice: Which knots would be good
for this? Which material?

Any help you will give me on this diversion will be appreciated.

Amy

(iwillinvent) wrote in message . com...
Hello. I would like to create something to keep someone busy

hi Amy,

(most) knots are easy to examine and untie, in general, that is what
they are for
you could use a hangman's noose ...

or: (many) knots cannot be untied when jammed/ jerked at
you could use a jammed figure of eight loop, or buntline hitch
and indeed, getting frustrated when untieing knots happens more often
than not

when it is just to keep someone (and yourself) busy:
a turk's head

but it is much harder to untie a simple knot, and then tie it again
even reefknot, bowline and two half hitches are not easily copied
without example

for more experienced knot-tiers, you can give useful knots that are
not well known
zeppelinbend, butterfly loop, pile hitch,
or groundline hitch variant
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~gala...not/hitch.html
or for some confusion: a carrickbend, granny knot or thiefknot

and you can have something in reserve, for the experts or the 'big
mouth', to untie and tie again
a slippery 8 loop
http://www.geocities.com/roo_two/slippery8.html
or a cat's paw will do

(colored kernmantel rope, 9 or 11 mm dia is a good choice)

good question, keeps me thinking,
When this is ment to keep a child busy, it will not work/ they will
keep you busy tying and talking...
(and don't use the hangman's noose)

knot all is said yet,

ben

On 9 Dec 2003 19:23:30 -0800, iwillinvent wrote:

I would like to create something to keep someone busy while I work.

How about a monkey's fist? You could put a "treasure" inside --
doesn't have to be anything fancy, maybe something different each
time. You could even do more than one shell around the core.


--
Gordon Smith (There's just one dot in my address.)

Hi,

in addition to 3 strand crown, and monkey's fist, I can recommend the
task of just learning to tie say 10-30 of the most useful knots. there
seem to be plenty of lists around on the net. trying typing scout (or
scouting) and knot into google to get lists of practical knots.

-jb

iwillinvent wrote:
Hello. I would like to create something to keep someone busy while I
work. I'm thinking of a piece of cord with a number of knots in it
that he can work on untying. I don't want him to be frustrated, just
challenged by this. I am a knots novice: Which knots would be good
for this? Which material?

Any help you will give me on this diversion will be appreciated.

Amy

Thank you all so much for your replies. It's all so much to digest.

I think I'd like to stick with untying knots, rather than tying them.
I'm also not sure about some of the knots listed. I'll have to look
them up for reference. I like the monkey's knot/prize idea. It goes
along with what I was trying to accomplish.

Any recommendations on the type of cord? Any other recommendations of
knots to untie? Thanks again for all the information so far.

Amy

On 11 Dec 2003 20:20:39 -0800, iwillinvent wrote:

Any recommendations on the type of cord?

I've made monkey's fists out of 3/8-inch sisal and 1/4-inch braided
nylon.

Of those, nylon's the better option for you. Sisal holds knots too
well, since it's such rough stuff, and it sheds fibres and dust.

It can be awkward to untie knots in nylon, though; it's so smooth that
fingers can't always get a good grip on it. And nylon is a little bit
elastic, so even though it's slippery it can still lock up pretty good
if you make the knots very tight.

Although I haven't used cotton for monkey's fists, I think that might
be your best choice. It's rough enough for a good grip, and it
doesn't shed.


--
Gordon Smith (There's just one dot in my address.)