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Turquoise Turtle Shoelace Knot
Just as the Surgeon's Knot is like the Standard Knot secured with an extra pass through the middle, the "Turquoise Turtle Knot" is like the Two Loop Knot ("Bunny Ears") secured with an extra pass through the middle.

The knot is named after a parcel knot used in a boutique called the "Turquoise Turtle".
Step 1:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 1

Tie a Starting Knot as shown, then make both ends into "loops" by simply doubling them back onto themselves. I guess they should still be called "Bunny Ears", because they don't look like "Turtle Ears"!
Step 2:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 2

Cross the two loops over each other so that the right (blue) loop ends up in front and the left (yellow) loop ends up behind. The yellow loop is now the right loop.
Step 3:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 3

Begin to wrap the right (yellow) loop around the left (blue) loop to end up in front. To this point, the knot is exactly the same as the Two Loop Shoelace Knot.
Step 4:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 4

Feed the right (yellow) loop through the "hole" that has just been made. Feed a fair amount through so that you still have a good length of loop to work with.
Step 5:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 5

Take the right (yellow) loop and the right (blue) loose end together as a "bundle" and wrap them both around so that they end up in front.
Step 6:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 6

The "bundle" is now fed into the "hole" between the laces. Like the Surgeon's Shoelace Knot, this second wrap & feed-through is the "secret recipe" that makes this knot secure.
Step 7:

Turquoise Turtle Knot diagram 7

Now, simply pull the loops to tighten the knot. Believe it or not, the whole twisted mess of the previous drawing will rearrange itself into exactly the same finished knot as my Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot.
NOTE:
The final drawing shows an open and somewhat stylised version of the finished knot, which is theoretically the same as the finished Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot.

However, because this knot isn't created symmetrically, it can end up looking completely different, especially if there's not enough slack for the laces to rearrange themselves during tightening.

Finished Knot
Finished Turquoise Turtle Shoelace Knot picture The finished knot should be a tight, closed knot with a double wrap around the middle, as compared to the single wrap of either my Ian Knot or any Standard Shoelace Knot.
My Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot is an improvement on this knot that uses effectively the same core technique but more easily ends up as a symmetrical finished knot.

Technical Details
Variations:
I've seen this knot described slightly differently in various knotting books.
  • This knot is often described with a Double Starting Knot, which I consider to be an "optional extra" that makes this knot a little more secure.
  • In Step (5), instead of feeding through the yellow loop and blue loose end (on the right side), feed through the blue loop and yellow loose end (on the left side). In this way, the knot is almost identical to the Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot, where the only difference is that the loose end is not fed through.

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This page last updated: 05-May-2009. Copyright © 2005-2009 by Ian W. Fieggen. All rights reserved.
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