This is knot funny.
December 28, 2010 5:12 PM Subscribe
How do I tie my shoes?
The shoelace on one of my boots broke, and I need a good knot to tie the good end until I can find a new set of laces.
I've tied the bad end towards the bottom of the eyelets, and I can tighten it fine with the remaining end. Thing is, I was never very good at knots in the my Cub Scout days and I don't know what kind of knot to use so that a) is fairly easy to tie so my paltry knot-brain can figure it out; b) it's easy to untie once I'm taking my boots off; and c) it stays tight and in place without loosening while I'm trying to tie the damn thing.
Here's a picture of my predicament: http://i.imgur.com/9sC82.jpg
The shoelace on one of my boots broke, and I need a good knot to tie the good end until I can find a new set of laces.
I've tied the bad end towards the bottom of the eyelets, and I can tighten it fine with the remaining end. Thing is, I was never very good at knots in the my Cub Scout days and I don't know what kind of knot to use so that a) is fairly easy to tie so my paltry knot-brain can figure it out; b) it's easy to untie once I'm taking my boots off; and c) it stays tight and in place without loosening while I'm trying to tie the damn thing.
Here's a picture of my predicament: http://i.imgur.com/9sC82.jpg
Can you tie the two halves together with a fisherman's knot?
posted by bondcliff at 5:19 PM on December 28, 2010
posted by bondcliff at 5:19 PM on December 28, 2010
Could you just tie the other end to the same eyelet? so that you can tighten one lace from the eyelet to the top of the boot, and the other fragment from the same eyelet to the toe, and up the other side? if I were doing this, I would probably tie each fragment to the same eyelet using two half hitches.
posted by mercredi at 5:23 PM on December 28, 2010
posted by mercredi at 5:23 PM on December 28, 2010
Ian's Shoelace Site - Bringing you the fun, fashion & science of shoelaces
posted by ob1quixote at 5:32 PM on December 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 5:32 PM on December 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I would be tempted to re-center the lace and tie it normally...
Whoops, I meant to put this in the post: I would rather not recenter the lace because the tips are tied off, which lets me quickly pull the laces out to take the boot off without having to relace it each time I want to put them back on. Shortening it wouldn't leave enough slack to get my feet in and out. I also tried going an eye or two down from the top, but that was surprisingly uncomfortable.
Can you tie the two halves together with a fisherman's knot?
I thought of trying that, but the break isn't close enough to the center for it to avoid the loosening thing I just mentioned.
posted by Evilspork at 5:35 PM on December 28, 2010
Whoops, I meant to put this in the post: I would rather not recenter the lace because the tips are tied off, which lets me quickly pull the laces out to take the boot off without having to relace it each time I want to put them back on. Shortening it wouldn't leave enough slack to get my feet in and out. I also tried going an eye or two down from the top, but that was surprisingly uncomfortable.
Can you tie the two halves together with a fisherman's knot?
I thought of trying that, but the break isn't close enough to the center for it to avoid the loosening thing I just mentioned.
posted by Evilspork at 5:35 PM on December 28, 2010
I like simple & minimalist. So, I'd either overlap the broken ends by about 1.5" (3-4 cm) and use a needle & thread to splice (sic) them together, or I'd move the break to the center/bottom, and use either an overhand (or more likely, figure-8) knot to tie them together.
[Er, those look like nylon laces, so I might first use a flame or heat source to melt the frayed ends..]
posted by Tuesday After Lunch at 6:35 PM on December 28, 2010
[Er, those look like nylon laces, so I might first use a flame or heat source to melt the frayed ends..]
posted by Tuesday After Lunch at 6:35 PM on December 28, 2010
I thought of trying that, but the break isn't close enough to the center for it to avoid the loosening thing I just mentioned.
You're over thinking this. Just do a double fishermans and then redo the ends on the ends of the laces or go to CVS\walmart\whatever and spend 98cents on some new laces.
It can't hurt to try, if it doesn't work just undo the knot.
I did a doublefishermas successfully on boots like yours when a dyson tore my lace in a weird place.
A figure 8 uses too much of the string and will be harder to pass through eyelets. Double fishermans is the best way to join two ropes together.
posted by zephyr_words at 6:38 PM on December 28, 2010
You're over thinking this. Just do a double fishermans and then redo the ends on the ends of the laces or go to CVS\walmart\whatever and spend 98cents on some new laces.
It can't hurt to try, if it doesn't work just undo the knot.
I did a doublefishermas successfully on boots like yours when a dyson tore my lace in a weird place.
A figure 8 uses too much of the string and will be harder to pass through eyelets. Double fishermans is the best way to join two ropes together.
posted by zephyr_words at 6:38 PM on December 28, 2010
a) is fairly easy to tie so my paltry knot-brain can figure it out; b) it's easy to untie once I'm taking my boots off; and c) it stays tight and in place without loosening while I'm trying to tie the damn thing.
All these requirements are far, far easier to meet with two free ends than with only one.
If that were my boot, and I still had the piece of lace that broke off, I'd tie it onto the remaining part with a sheet bend and then use the boot as usual. The knot would be too lumpy to go through the eyelets, but it looks like the break is close enough to the toe end that it could be made not to need to.
If the piece shown in the photo was all I had left, I'd re-lace the boot, leaving out enough eyelets at the toe end to give me two usable free ends at the top. I'd also melt the torn end with a cigarette lighter and squeeze it into shape with thoroughly wet fingers to form a primitive aglet. This would not work as well as full-length lacing, but it would be better than what you've got at present.
posted by flabdablet at 6:47 PM on December 28, 2010
All these requirements are far, far easier to meet with two free ends than with only one.
If that were my boot, and I still had the piece of lace that broke off, I'd tie it onto the remaining part with a sheet bend and then use the boot as usual. The knot would be too lumpy to go through the eyelets, but it looks like the break is close enough to the toe end that it could be made not to need to.
If the piece shown in the photo was all I had left, I'd re-lace the boot, leaving out enough eyelets at the toe end to give me two usable free ends at the top. I'd also melt the torn end with a cigarette lighter and squeeze it into shape with thoroughly wet fingers to form a primitive aglet. This would not work as well as full-length lacing, but it would be better than what you've got at present.
posted by flabdablet at 6:47 PM on December 28, 2010
Mmm.. It sounds like you need a square knot. A square knot is the perfect knot to join two lines together that are the exact same thickness. It will never slip, and it will be very easy to break apart very easily whenever you're ready to!
posted by Glendale at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2010
posted by Glendale at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2010
...and with a square knot you should really only lose about an inch or so of length, max..
posted by Glendale at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2010
posted by Glendale at 7:16 PM on December 28, 2010
Best answer: If that were my boot and I wore pants over it, I would simply get some duct tape and tape a few times around the ankle until I could get a new lace.
posted by AugustWest at 7:40 PM on December 28, 2010
posted by AugustWest at 7:40 PM on December 28, 2010
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posted by brainmouse at 5:17 PM on December 28, 2010