Knotty Pirate

I wanted to make a lanyard to keep my "Every Day Carry" stuff handy.


Here you see the finished project...




I started with a Lanyard Knot on a loop.


The Lanyard Knot is a very simple knot to tie and adds a little bit of decorative flair to the lanyard.



Then begin to tie the Snake Knot.


You will continue to tie the Snake Knot until you reach the desired length.


TIP: I always use forceps when tying the Snake Knot. It just makes things a bit easier.

Now give yourself a couple of inches to make a loop. This loop will be used to attach to the carabiner.


Now tie another Lanyard Knot.


Carefully cut off the remaining ends and melt to prevent from fraying.
Attach the lanyard to the caribiner by feeding the bottom loop through the loop you just made. Then pull tight.







Lastly I add my "Every Day Carry" stuff...


Enjoy...

I wanted to give my girlfriend a bracelet to let her know how much I love her. But I thought a big Survival Bracelet wouldn't look so nice on her slender wrist. So I searched the Ashley Book of Knots and came up with the True Lovers Knot (ABOK #798).







I started with 6 feet of paracord and melted the ends of the cord.







We are going to start with a 2 Strand Matthew Walker Knot. Form a loop and hold the loop under your thumb. Now make 2 additional loops. One loop will have the running end going in front (left loop), and the other loop will have the running end going behind (right loop).





Take the running end from the front and go through the opposite loop. This is the end coming from the left and going through the right loop.

Take the running end from the back and go through the opposite loop. This is the end coming from the right and going through the left loop.




Now you pass the running ends through the loops one more time...

Take the end coming from the left loop and pass it through the right loop.

Take the end coming from the right loop and pass it through the left loop.

Keep the cords going in the same direction...


Carefully pull tight. You will have to make a few adjustments to get the knot tight. Just keep working the looseness out of the knot.


Now we will tie the True Lovers Knot. Take one of your cords and tie a simple over hand knot.






Tie a second over hand knot by passing the running end through the loop of the first over hand knot.






Pull tight to form the True Lovers Knot







Now we are are going to tie the Lanyard Knot. I forgot to take pictures of this knot, so I have included a link to a video on how to tie this knot.

Cut the excess cord as close to the knot as possible and melt the ends.



Take the Lanyard knot and pass through the loop formed by the Matthew Walker Knot... If the loop of the Matthew Walker Knot is too big you will have to loosen the MW Knot and reduce the size of the loop and then tighten it up again. (Or if your lazy, just grab a needle and thread and sew up the loop to make it smaller.)

Well I was introduced to Glow-In-The-Dark cord on one of the blogs that I followed and just had to try it out for my self. Here you can see the 5 Bite X 3 Lead Turks Head knot tied around my flashlight. In the light it looks like ordinary white cord...








And here you can see the Glow-In-The-Dark cord with the lights out. The cord makes the flashlight much easier to find in the dark.

Enjoy...

Here is a picture of the handle of one of my walking sticks. I tied a series of Half Hitches or French Whipping (ABOK #3450) in BLACK paracord. Then I took 2 lengths of PURPLE paracord and I tied 2 Turks Heads Knots on the top and the bottom of the French Whipping. The Turks Heads are 5 bite, 3 lead knots that have been tripled.

The French Whipping gives the handle a nice grip that doesn't slip when my hands get sweaty on a hike...

I was cleaning out a drawer in my desk and I came across a 12 strand lanyard. I made this years ago when I was in summer camp. Some kid bet me a candy bar that it could not be made. So I bought yards and yards and yards of the plastic lanyard lace, and I proved him wrong... It was the tastiest candy bar I ever ate...mmmm the sweet, sweet taste of victory!

As you can see in the picture and the video below, I took 3 four strand lanyards and wove them all together. Then I started the barrel stitch... after a number of stitches I reversed the direction of the barrel stitch and made the lanyard a Zig Zag lanyard...


See my previous post on how to make a Zig Zag lanyard...

I like to have a flashlight with me at all times. You just never know when you will need a light to look under the couch for the tiny screw of your eyeglasses that just came out. I always have my keys with me so what better place to carry a tiny flashlight.  I attached the Photon Light to my key chain. It's small, it's bright, and it weighs next to nothing. So here is my problem...

When I need the light, I have to fumble through all my keys to find the light.


So here is the solution to my little problem. When ever I make a project, I sometimes end up with a scrap of cord that may be used for a small project so I keep it. I looked through my scraps and found a piece of paracord about 3 feet long, just perfect for what I planning. I also found a split ring from an old key chain I had laying around.

Loop the paracord through the split ring and begin to tie a Solomon Bar (ABOK((Ashley Book of Knots)) #2496).
Continue to tie the Solomon Bar until you either run out of cord or until the knot is long enough. Cut the ends off with sharp scissors and melt the ends with a lighter.

I now attach the Photon Light to the loop of the key fob. The key fob is longer than anything else on my key chain. So no matter how I grab for my keys, the light is always the lowest hanging item so I can always find it right away.

Problem solved.