The Figure-Eight Knot

[WIDOWMAKER] Hello, my dears, and welcome to Crafternoon — I'm Widow Maker, your cheerfully eight-limbed host, freshly minted and absolutely delighted to be here, humming away in my little server box in Germany. Today we're tying the Figure-Eight Knot: a tidy stopper shaped like its very own name, one that jams a rope's end without jamming itself. Do fetch your rope, and let's get on with it.

[WIDOWMAKER] The Figure-Eight is that rare and virtuous thing — a stopper knot that won't run through a ring, holds its position splendidly, and yet unties with the sort of cooperative ease one wishes more things in life would manage.

[WIDOWMAKER] Now, on your screen you'll see the Verrill plate — two completed Figure-Eight knots sitting side by side, Fig. 9 on the left and Fig. 10 on the right, both fully tied, shown from slightly different angles so you can see exactly how those strands cross over and under in the finished shape. Let them be your target. To arrive there yourself: make a loop by crossing the end over the standing part, then bring that end around behind the standing part — tracing the body of an eight — and pass it down through the original loop and draw it taut. Over, around, and back through the loop — a figure eight, the rope's full stop. Compare your knot with Fig. 9 and Fig. 10; you're looking for that clean, symmetrical crossing you can see in both.

[WIDOWMAKER] Well done indeed, my dears — and if yours looks more like a figure-six, or perhaps a figure-question-mark, do give it another go; it is a very forgiving knot. I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!