The monkey's fist, also known as the pouch or button, isa typically decorative knot that is also used in many practical ways: it can hold heavy items, such as pieces of lead, inside its turns to give it weight when it is used at the end of a heaving line, and it forms a knob which can substitute for a modern button Method There are no special difficulties in making this knot. Begin by taking three vertical turns (1) around your hand. Hold them with three horizontal turns (2, 3). Now make another three turns around the horizontal turns but inside the vertical turns (4,5, 6), producing a kind of ball which is round in shape when carefully worked (7, 8). The monkey's fist described above is made by crossing the turns in only three directions: vertical, horizontal, and vertical again. Better, more compact and spherical results can be obtained by increasing ‘the number of turns or the number of times they cross over. A trick to ensure that the ball is round is to make it around a small ball, which then lies hidden inside the knot.a 4 wi = n TURKshould also practice the diamond knot (see pp. 200-201), the crown (pp. 94-95), and the crown sinnet (see pp. 232-233). The basic methods are quite similar, and it is precisely for this reason that you should learn to pick out the differences between them. Combining these knots in different ways will allow you to produce imaginative and highly decorative effects, particularly if the knots are made with a good number of strands. Method This knot is made in three distinct stages. First, a wall is formed by inserting each strand from below through the. bight formed by the one before it (1, 2,3). In the second stage, the wall is transformed into a full Matthew Walker by bringing the three strands round again from below through the next two bights (4,5, 6). Figure 7 shows the finished and drawn up crown with the strands all emerging in the same direction. The third stage is to form the crown. There are no particular difficulties in this stage which is clearly shown 195MONKEY'S FISTspherical knot with the three ends emerging as in figure 12. To eliminate these, pass them down through the crownMULTI- STRAND LANYARD KNOTS First type Strictly speaking, these knots belong to the category of stopper knots discussed on pages 27-38; but we have decided to include them among the decorative knots, because it is only effectively used as such These are only two examples of compound knots. Many weaves (walls, crowns, diamonds, Matthew Walkers) can be used giving very different end results, although they all have the same common feature that they enlarge the rope on which they are made. The number of strands can also vary. This may at first seem a great complication, but you need only practice the knots with three strands, as shown here, to see that when you have mastered the basic technique, more strands do not present insurmountable problems. Before moving on to more complicated compound knots, you 104in figures 8, 9, 10, and 11. Tighten the knot fully by working the three strands gradually, pulling each one in turn to obtain an almost 1906Method Form a carrick bend (see pp. 136-137) around its own standing part (1). The two free ends follow the two diagonals of the carrick bend, but with the opposite weave (2, 3). All that then remains is to work the knot. To do this, pull the loop left when the carrick bend was formed and the two free ends smoothly and slowly (4, 5). Make sure that there is no overlapping and that the knot tightens evenly and with its internal order intact. Figure 6 shows the knot completed, clearly demonstrating the admirably perfect symmetry from which it probably got its name. peMULTI-STRAND LANYARD KNOTS Second type This is an uncomplicated knot which gives an attractive and perfectly round end result Method Begin by inserting each strand through the turn formed by the previous one (1,2, 3). The weaving in this knot is not exactly straightforward, so study the photographs carefully and follow them exactly. Close the turns into loops (4, 5) to form a structure very similar to the monkey's fist (pp. 192-193) and then to ensure that the knotis round, double the loops by having each strand follow through its own first lead (6,7, 8). Tighten the knot gradually, pulling each strand a number of times. For a perfectly spherical shape, double the leads again (9).