Standard Shoelace Knot

Standard Knot Tutorial

Step 1:

Begin with a regular Left-over-Right Starting Knot.

Step 2:

Make the right (blue) end into a “loop” by simply doubling it back onto itself.

Step 3:

Take the left (yellow) end and pass it around to the right, going behind the right loop.

Step 4:

Continue the left (yellow) end around the right loop to end up in front.

Step 5:

Start to push the left (yellow) lace into the “hole” that has just been made.

Step 6:

The yellow lace comes out through the back of the hole to form a right (yellow) loop.

Step 7:

Grab hold of both loops and pull tight to complete the knot.

Technical Details

Technical Name

This knot appears in “The Ashley Book of Knots” as #1212 and #1214, “The Bowknot”, where it is described as “... the universal means of fastening shoe-strings together.” However, Ashley does not illustrate the steps, and only briefly describes the procedure (which is actually more like the Two Loop Shoelace Knot).

Other Common Names:

1. “Bunny Rabbit (Around The Tree) Knot”

This name refers to the story that is often used to help children remember the steps:

1. First create the tree roots (tie the Starting Knot);
2. Next create the tree trunk (form the first loop);
3. Rabbit runs around the tree (wrap the loose end around the loop);
4. Rabbit sees you and hops into the hole (feed through the hole);
5. Rabbit escapes out the back (emerge and pull tight).

A simpler rhyme based on this apparently aired on an episode of the TV show “Full House”:

1. Over under (starting knot);
2. Around the tree (form first loop and run loose end around it);
3. Hop through the bunny hole (feed through the hole);
4. Pull and see! (pull loop through and tighten knot).

(As remembered by visitor Lizzy M., Dec-2017)

2. “Loop, Swoop and Pull Knot”

This name refers to the three main stages of this knot:

1. Loop one end;
2. Swoop the other end around the loop;
3. Pull a loop through the “hole” formed by the swoop.

This name possibly originates from the 1999 movie Big Daddy, in which the phrase was used several times, and is also the title of a 2006 book of the same name.

3. “One Loop Shoelace Knot”

This name is generally only used in discussions where the knot is being compared to the Two Loop Shoelace Knot and simply differentiates the One Loop / Two Loop variants.

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