Grief knot

Knot-details

---

name=Grief knot
names=What knot, Whatnot, Grass bend, Reeving-line bend
type=binding
type2=trick
origin=
related=Reef knot, Thief knot, Granny knot
releasing=Non-jamming
strength=
caveat=Very weak
uses=Used for jokes and tricks. It unrolls itself under a light load.
abok_number=#1208, #1406, #1407, #1459, #1490, #2579

A grief knot is a binding knot which combines the features of a granny knot and a thief knot, producing a result which is not generally useful for working purposes. Its name is an example of a portmanteau.

The grief knot resembles the granny knot, but tied in trans form (as opposed to cis form). This means that the working ends come out diagonally from each other, whereas a Granny's ends both come out on the same side. It unravels rather elegantly: as tension is applied, the ropes rotate like little cogs, each one twisting to feed the rope through the knot.

To tie the grief knot, create a bight in the end of a rope, with the standing part on the left and the free end on top. Then take the other end, and pass it up through the bight, over the top of the bight, down and up through the bight again to go over the bottom of the bight, and then finally up through the bight to come out where the end first went in. The second end has thus taken an anticlockwise tour of the bight, going alternately under and over every line it encounters.

The knot has an interesting property, used for magic tricks. When pulling on the standing ends the knot starts slipping and the working ends become crossed. By twisting the working ends so that they uncross and then recross in reverse, the knot's structure is changed so that it will no longer slip. The twisting motion has been paralleled to the turning of a key, "locking" and "unlocking" the knot. The knot in the "locked" position is still not safe for anything and should only be considered a trick knot.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/roo_two/reefknot.html The Reef Knot Family]