Building Blocks - Junctions

The Big Picture

When one rope crosses another, you have a bunch of options. If you want the rope to continue moving upward and to be able to move freely over the other rope, you do nothing at all … like this

If you want the rope come back down and be free to move with respect to the other rope, you do nothing more than pull the tail underneath the crossing line … like this

If you want it to go down and to the right, you simply fold the tail over top of the incoming line…

…this is good for almost any direction you want to go in this quadrant even all the way to the right

And if you want the rope to have a decent grip on the crossing line and continue to move upward (as opposed to #1 where it can move freely), you simply take the tail from this point and go underneath the crossing line. You might recognize this as the Crossing Hitch (aka Nodome or Munter Hitch). 😊 So now you can see how a number of different potential choices of how you want your rope to move are all related!

Now if you would like to come up to the upper left quadrant (that I am pointing to), you use this exact same technique…

… Just move the tail the direction

It is important which direction you make your Crossing Hitch when you have it go at an angle. If you do it like this, the tension on the cord moving away from the junction will tend to make the Crossing Hitch tighter and therefore have a stronger hold. This form is called a “closed” Crossing Hitch

If, on the other hand, you position the cord at an angle like this, you can see that it tends to make the knot less tight—have a weaker hold. This form is called the “open” Crossing Hitch. Normally this is not what you want. But before I show you how to tie the cord if you do want it to move this direction, let’s look in one more thing we can do with this form…

If you loosen the bight just a little bit…

… and then pull the tail through that bight…

…and then tighten it, you will have created the “cow hitch”. Structurally, this is exactly the same as a Lark’s Head Knot, you simply tied it on to the crossing line. This knot is a great way to have your tail come down, but also have it locked firmly onto the crossing line and not able to easily slide

It is also a good option if you would like your tail to move down and to the right and have a firmer grip than it would if you chose #3

Starting again. Let’s talk about the Crossing Hitch in a little more detail. The trick to a Crossing Hitch is: if you plan to have your tail move away from the junction at an angle, you start your Hitch on that same side. In this example we want it to end on the right hand side, where I am pointing. Therefore,

…you will pull the tail underneath a crossing line on that same side (the right)

…like this

Then bring the tail over top of the incoming line.

(By the way...)

…and then go under the crossing line to form your Crossing Hitch

…and then move it to the right if desired!

Go forth and create!