False Lover’s Knot

By Lazarus Redmayne

Easy

This is an attractive cross-shaped knot reminiscent of the Celtic cross. It can be tied neared the end of a rope to create a three-lobed knot or tied in a running line to add additional lobes off of the sides. As such it can be an interesting way to add flair to a tie requiring repeated anchor points like Hishi Karada, Futomomo, or thigh highs.

The knot is a little fiddly to create, but holds its shape nicely when all four arms are under tension.

Rope Needed

For this tutorial, I used a variety of nylon ropes, provided by my affiliate TwistedSyn

TwistedSyn Nylon feels like luxury. It is richly colored and shiny, it is smooth and silky to the touch. When you hold it, it just makes you want to slide it over someone’s skin!

Examples

Here are a couple of fun examples where this knot was used to add a decorative layer two column and ties. The first is a a modification to the Hishi Karada, the second a Futomomo.

Pictures & Text

This knot is tied with two parallel lines. One day and can be anchored up the other must be free.

Make the loop on the left-hand side, laying the tail on top of the incoming line. The loop should point at the right-hand side.

Run the tail under the incoming line and through the loop…

…to make an Overhand Knot with the loop facing the other line.

Pick up the rope on the right-hand side. Run it through the loop, first on top of the loop…

…and then underneath the loop and itself.

Like this.

Lay the tail on top of itself and through the new loop that you just created…

…to create a second overhand knot. The two knots should be facing each other like this.

Note: If tightened down, this is the True Lovers Knot.

Reached through the twist on the left-side knot.

Grab the lobe of the right-side knot.

Do the same on the other side.

Gently pull the loaves through.

Hold the incoming lines at the point you want the knot to be and then pull the lobes away from each other.

This will begin tightening the knot up to the point where your fingers have marked.

Now you can shift your grip to hold the knot in place while you pull the tails. This will tighten the rest of the knot.

Depending on a lot of factors, sometimes the knot becomes a little imbalanced. If this happens, it is helpful to pull all in all four sets of lines at the same time.

Done!

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