A Better Shoelace Knot?

Reading over the ensuing comments on a shoe-fastening poll on Slashdot, the discussion turned to knot-tying techniques. Quitcherbitchen put it this way:

When you tie your laces, just do one extra loop around and then pull the second loop through. In other words, “the rabbit goes around the tree twice, then through the hole.”

Your laces will stayed tied all day, even throughout a run, but still come undone with a simple pull. Try it. […]

He then chimed in with an URL for an illustrated example where they call it The Better Bow. I read over it and tried to make sense of it in my head, but I’m not always so good at virualizations such as this.

I even tried untying one of my shoes and following along that way, but I got lost at the “Wrap the loop around your finger” bit. If you figure this out, please fill me in — perhaps demonstrating it to me on a shoe sometime IRL would clear things up.

3 thoughts on “A Better Shoelace Knot?

  1. okay Alex.

    I assume you tie your shoes the same way I do (the make the loop with the One hand but bunny ears right away). It’s simple. Start out the same: do the same opening thing (making the cross in the laces–you know the simple knot) and then make the loop in the One hand. Then do the same step as you would do next, wrap the Other one around [I’m making One always be the same and Other always be the other one–I don’t know if your One is left or right] the One. Normally you’d then put the Other’s middle through the hole created between the loop in the One hand and the simple knot against your shoe. Instead of doing this, loop the Other around *again* and put the middle through the hole that’s made by both of the encirculations of the One by the Other and pull the bunny ears tight.

  2. The instructions worked for me but I don’t understand the hint part at the end. It seems to untie okay for me with either end.

    I haven’t figured out how to get it as tight as a regular knot.

    P.S. Alex, what kind of Eagle scout are you? Didn’t you have to earn a Pioneering merit badge? :-P

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