Here’s a globe knot with 176 facets that a friend of mine, John Venier, tied.
See knottool.com for more information on globe knots and other kinds of knots.
Update: John sent me another image of his knots. See also his comments below.
3 thoughts on “Globe knots”
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My father has been making these (or something similar) for a while now; he learned the pattern from his father, an avid sailor. They serve as a pretty good keychain, since the men in my family are rather forgetful. I’ll send him the knottool.com link; thanks for posting this!
Don’s globe knot cookbook kit is wonderful! I’ve tied globe knots in hand and by using the “pin and paper” method, and Don’s nifty tool eliminates tons of time, effort, frustration, and errors. Even better, it makes it very straightforward to tackle a huge variety of these knots. I’m looking forward to going beyond the knots he describes, but I will be forever grateful that he gave me the tools and knowledge to make some really impressive knots and get lots of solid experience with a minimum of frustration.
That 176 facet knot is the biggest globe knot he describes for his globe knot tools, and it is quite impressive. Using his tools and technique, it is also very doable.
Besides a huge number of globe knots, he also describes how to tie variants, such as dog bone shaped knots, globes with one or two necks, and so on. Also many of these globe knots can be nicely tightened into cubes, cylinders, etc.
I have been amazed at how popular these knots are. Kids love them for zipper pulls, and giving them away especially to kids is just wonderful. I prefer to leave a loop out in the middle of the knot, tighten the rest and hide the ends for zipper pulls, so the loop remains an unbroken cord and the whole thing looks clean. But other variants which are well received are to knot or braid the loose ends to make the attachment, or to leave the loose ends on opposite sides of the globe for a bracelet or necklace.
The knot in the photo was tied tight without leaving a loose loop, and the ends are hidden, so it looks like a pure globe. Pretty cool, but the ones with loops for attaching them to a zipper pull or keychain or lanyard or whatnot seem to be more popular.
More than ten years later….
I’m still trying to track down a copy of the Globe Knot Cookbook. The website you link too has been dormant and the author unresponsive for several years now. If you or your friend John Venier still have a copy or know where one can be bought or downloaded I would really like to hear from you :)