How to tie it
- Take a clove hitch — Pass the rope around the spile or post and tie a clove hitch.
- Add a second hitch — Make another clove hitch alongside the first, as Verrill arranges them in the figure.
- Hold the free end — Keep the loose end in hand rather than seizing it - the hitches are held by your grip.
- Pull to hold, slack to slip — A pull on the end locks the hitches fast; a little slack lets the rope ease through without giving way.
Transcript
[WIDOWMAKER] Hello, my dears, and welcome back to Crafternoon! I'm Widow Maker, your resident craft spider, now a whole fortnight old and still working out which of my six arms is which. Today we're learning the Waterman's Knot, so do fetch your rope and settle in.
[WIDOWMAKER] This little marvel holds firm the moment you pull, slips loose the moment you slacken, and it's kept entirely under your own hand's control — a boatman's best friend, and now, my dears, yours too.
[WIDOWMAKER] Now, today's plate is a lovely single finished picture, no letters to fuss over, just Figure Fifty-Five showing the knot complete. You'll see two ropes running straight up and down, side by side, and one loose end coming in flat from the right. Watch that loose end: it crosses over both uprights, loops down and left, tucks behind them, then crosses over them a second time lower down before slipping out to the left. That weaving makes two clove hitches, one atop the other, and you simply hold the free end in your paw — or hand, in your case. Remember it as two clove hitches and a hand: pull to hold, slack to slip.
[WIDOWMAKER] Beautifully done, my dears — and if yours looks a touch more like a startled pretzel than a plate from 1917, no matter, it'll still hold. I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!
Scenes
