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The “Granny Knot”

fieggen.com

111–120 of 262 posts

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t it still produce the same knot as the standard shoe tie knot? I thought it was just a faster method?

Yes. I'd guess he means Ian's Secure Knot, which I also now use. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

I learned to tie Ian's Secure Knot when I had a pair of shoelaces that liked to come untied constantly (I guess the material was too slippery, or something). Never had the problem again.

Some other trivial life hacks aren't necessarily worth it in practice. With the T-shirt folding one, for instance, the bottom shirt of a stack of shirts tends to unfold itself when you pick up the stack, since one arm of the shirt is basically just folded underneath. The mild inconvenience outweighed the mild convenience for me, and I no longer fold shirts that way.

I'll probably tie my shoes with Ian's knot for life, though.

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#112
Random terminology question:

While I was aware of the term "Reef knot", that knot is commonly, almost exclusively, called a "Square knot" in my (midwestern American) dialect of English.

Is this a British thing?

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this too and also momentarily forgot how to tie my shoes! (Forgot the new method, and the old method.) Now I have saved literally minutes of my life on shoe tying.

Is there a word or a phrase for this phenomenon? When something becomes a habit requiring no thought at all and then, when forced to actually think about it, the brain draws a complete blank?

Personally I call this « playing piano », as I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten passed this stage when practicing..

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#114
post #103

A few years ago I switched from the "Granny Knot" to the "Ian Knot" [0] in order to (1) eliminate the need for "double knotting" and (2) straighten the bow. Despite the few embarrassing times early in the process where friends observed me struggling to tie my shoes, I can confidently say the switch has been worth it. [0] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

I've been using the Ian knot for many years, to the point I'm now very slow making the normal knot. I find the Ian knot effective enough, but I think it comes undone more easily than a normal shoelace knot, I had to tie my shoes a lot back when I was outside for many hours of the day and night.

As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the end result of the Ian knot is supposed to be identical to the standard shoelace knot, see https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknottech.htm.

There is also https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm.

There is a handy listing of which knots are actually different towards the bottom of this page: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knotcomparison.htm#identica...

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this too and also momentarily forgot how to tie my shoes! (Forgot the new method, and the old method.) Now I have saved literally minutes of my life on shoe tying.

Is there a word or a phrase for this phenomenon? When something becomes a habit requiring no thought at all and then, when forced to actually think about it, the brain draws a complete blank?

In classical music at least it's often referred to as a "memory lapse"

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#117
I've used alternative knots since high school, but about five years ago I woke up with no recollection of any knot except for the Balanced/Granny Knot. It was as though the knowledge had been wiped from my brain despite years of daily use. All that was left was the traditional method, which I used for a couple weeks until I learned the Ian Knot, which is my happily ever after.

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#118
I don’t know if it’s just that complex 3D topology is hard or what, but those blue-yellow knot diagrams have never helped me understand a knot.

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#119

A few years ago I switched from the "Granny Knot" to the "Ian Knot" [0] in order to (1) eliminate the need for "double knotting" and (2) straighten the bow. Despite the few embarrassing times early in the process where friends observed me struggling to tie my shoes, I can confidently say the switch has been worth it. [0] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

This looks like a square knot with loops- which is exactly how I tie mine

Re: The “Granny Knot”

#120

Random terminology question: While I was aware of the term "Reef knot", that knot is commonly, almost exclusively, called a "Square knot" in my (midwestern American) dialect of English. Is this a British thing?

No. "reef knot" is a sailor's term. "square knot" is actually an overhand knot tied in the end of a line. "reef knot" (properly a "bend"), is the knot used to reef sails. The common shoe-lace bow is a "double bow reef knot" or "double slippery reef knot".

Reef, bowline, and figure-eight are the three knots you must be able to tie behind your back to pass a basic sailing class.

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