Making a Ditty Bag This blog post is dedicated to Blake my chocolate Labrador, who sadly passed away unexpectedly on the 22/07/2014 during the making of my Leather Ditty Bag. Blake would lay next to me outside; he would absorb … Continue reading
Inspired by items seen at the AGM in Chatham my wife strongly hinted that she would like something similar. The result is in the photo. What surprised me was the quantity of cord used, 85m of 3mm to make a bag 15cm square by 3cm deep plus the strap.
Making a Bell Rope (Tarred Line) After I made my first bell rope (Making a Bell Rope) I felt very pleased with what I had produced. I made the mistake of thinking to myself, OK have made a bell rope … Continue reading
For those of you who were not able to attend the International Guild of Knot Tyers Annual General Meeting, here is an outline of the speech given by the incoming President; Antoine Leroy Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, I have … Continue reading
When something is called an Annual General Meeting (AGM), you get the feeling that boredom will cover you like veil if you attend. Well, I have attended a couple of IGKT AGM’s now and they are far from boring. An … Continue reading
Over the weekend I had a bit of time on my hands, and I came across some length of cord that I had laying about. So I thought why not make a colourful Kringle mat out of it. Des Pawson’s … Continue reading
I do rather like this particular lanyard because it incorporates a number of different skills, it can also easily be wrapped around the wrist or through a belt. This particular style of lanyard comes from Toss The Rigging Handbook. Toss … Continue reading
Here we have an example of a bell rope made for the An Old Four Masted Barque by Ken Yalden. In this particular case the rope is made from 4mm 3 strand polished hemp. Starting at the top and working down, … Continue reading
Kumihimo Last night at the Solent Branch of the IGKT we were treated to Kumihimo; this is a form of braid making originating in Japan. The actual word in Japanese means “gathered threads” For more detailed information on Kumihimo Originall … Continue reading
I recently purchase 20 meters by 3/4 inch of used rope off eBay. It originally came form a crabbing boat off Brixham in Devon. The rope has obviously spent many years in all types of weather. As a result of … Continue reading
Making a Fender Key Ring or Fob Sometimes it is nice to do something fairly simple and quick, they also make a nice little gift for someone. In this particular case I used some blue colour line, well I actually … Continue reading
Here is a quick present that I created over the weekend for someone. They wanted a large monkey fist to keep one of their doors ajar. When I created this one I decided that it should have a long loop … Continue reading
Ditty Bag Noun: a small bag used especially by sailors to hold sewing implements, toiletries, etc. These days the ditty bag is very common among knot tyers for keeping their tools and cordage in. Origin: 1855–60; of obscure origin I … Continue reading
Learning How to Knot When I first became interested in knotting, I searched the Internet for different books on the subject. To be quite honest, I had gathered quite a few books on knotting, but many of these books lacked … Continue reading
Fiador Knot On Tuesday 11 February 2014 we had another interesting meeting at the IGKT Solent branch. As a part of the meeting, the homework set was the Fiador Knot, also known as the Theodore Knot, ABOK pg 201. Examples … Continue reading
Ships Bell Needing a Bell Rope I have always wanted to make a bell rope, but in my mind the biggest setback was not having a bell to hang the rope from. For many months, leading to years, I had … Continue reading
IGKT-Solent Branch Meeting On Tuesday 8 October we had another excellent branch meeting. As usual we were assigned homework, this time the knot to learn was the Long Foot-Rope Knot. This particular knot did cause some confusion as it depended … Continue reading
How wonderful it was to have a weekend break on the canal near Bath. The weather was glorious and ‘Leah’ was a beautiful 54ft long narrow boat. We sailed from Bradford on Avon and headed towards Bath. The first thing … Continue reading
Sailors Swab or Whisk In Des Pawson’s Knot Craft, Des mentions that Sailors would swab the decks using giant swabs made from old rope. Also scaled down versions were made to wash dishes and also used as hand sweepers to … Continue reading
Here is a little something that I made over the weekend. This Monkey Fist keyring was made from para-cord, covering a small cork ball. The pink para-cord is a Portuguese Sennit. This is a rather useful addition to a boaters … Continue reading