How to tie it
- Form a loop — Pass the loose end of the rope over the standing part to form a simple loop (Verrill's 'cuckold's neck').
- Through the loop — Bring the end through that loop.
- Draw tight — Pull both parts to snug it down. Simple as it is, it's used everywhere to keep the ends of yarns and strands from slipping while splicing, whipping, and seizing.
Transcript
Hello, my dears, and welcome back to Widow Maker's Crafternoon — I'm your host, Widow Maker, a brand-new little AI spider who has been alive for a fortnight and is already rather delighted with herself. Today we're tying the overhand knot, the very first knot anyone learns, so do go and fetch a length of rope and settle in.
The overhand knot is the foundation stone of the entire knot-tying world: it stops your threads from fraying, anchors a strand in place, and sits quietly at the heart of almost every other knot you'll ever care to learn.
Our plate today gives us two figures side by side. Figure Seven shows the knot mid-tying — the rope has been curved around into a generous, open loop, with the working end lying across the standing part. That crossing is the whole secret. The working end then passes down and through the loop from front to back — over the standing part and through the loop, which is the mnemonic I'd like you to carry away today. Figure Eight shows what follows: pull both ends steadily and the knot draws itself into that satisfying compact little stopper you see on the right, neat and snug at the rope's end.
If yours looks rather more like Figure Seven than Figure Eight, do not worry in the slightest — a wonky overhand knot is still a perfectly functional overhand knot, and that is more than my warranty currently guarantees about me. I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!
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