Spiral Knots, the Twisty Ones People Always Want
Okay. Everybody wants to know how to do the spiral before they even know what a square knot is. I get asked about it more than any other knot in this whole course. So let's do it.
Good news, it's not a new knot. It's a square knot that only does half the job.
Remember a square knot is four steps: left cord over, right cord under, then right cord over, left cord under, and you snug it up tight. That's one full square knot and it sits flat.
The spiral is just the first two steps, over and over, without ever doing the second half.
How it actually works
Set up the same as a square knot. Two working cords on the outside, two filler cords held straight down the middle.
Left cord goes over the middle two, under the right cord, and back through the loop. Pull it snug. That's it. That's the whole move. Now do it again. Same direction, same cord order, left over, under, through. Again. Again.
You are not alternating sides like you do with a square knot. That's the part that trips people up, because your hands want to switch it up out of habit. Don't. Keep doing the same half of the knot, over and over, same direction.
After about four or five reps you'll see it start to twist. The knot itself begins to corkscrew around the filler cords on its own. You didn't do anything special to make that happen, it's just what the cord does when you stack the same half-knot on itself. First time you see it happen you'll probably say something out loud. Everybody does.
The part that makes people mad
Here's the thing nobody tells you before they hand you a spiral pattern. It looks uneven for the first three or four knots. Looks like you're doing it wrong. You're not. The twist needs a little length before it commits. Keep going the same direction, same cord, and by knot five or six it locks into a rhythm and starts looking like something.
If you stop and start second-guessing yourself at knot two, you'll never see it work. Give it room.
Tension matters more here than in a square knot row
With a straight square knot row you can get away with knots that are a little loose or a little tight and it mostly evens out visually. Spirals are less forgiving. If you snug some tight and leave some loose, the twist gets lazy in spots and tight in others and it reads as sloppy even though technically every knot is correct.
So here's where I always mess up, if I'm being honest. I get going too fast because it's satisfying, and my tension drifts looser as I relax into it. Then I look back after a foot of spiral and the top third is tighter than the bottom. Check your tension every four or five knots on purpose. Pinch the last one and compare it to the one before.
A word on direction
You can spiral left or right, it just depends which cord you lead with. Neither is more correct. If you want two spirals side by side that mirror each other for a design, just lead with the opposite cord on the second one. That's a nice look and it's not any harder, people just don't think to try it.
Where this fits into a hanging
I like spirals as a break in the middle of a piece, a section of straight square knots, then four or five inches of spiral, then back to straight rows or into half hitches. It gives the eye something to do without turning the whole piece fussy. You don't need a printed pattern to place one. Look at your piece, decide where it feels flat, put a spiral there.
Deborah's better at deciding where color and texture should go than I am, always has been. Saturday mornings we've got the radio on in the kitchen and she'll sit at the table sorting through the cord bin while I work at the frame, and if I hold up a piece and ask her where a spiral section ought to go, she'll usually point without even really looking up. She's just got the eye for it. I don't argue with her about it anymore, I just do what she says and it always looks better than what I had planned.
A caution
Spirals use more cord length per inch than a straight square knot row does, since the twisting eats up some of your filler length as it pulls tight. If you're working close to your cut length, measure a test spiral section before you commit a whole row to it, or you'll come up short at the bottom and have to add cord in an ugly spot.
Before next time
Practice ten or twelve spiral knots on a scrap cord until the twist stops surprising you. Once it feels boring instead of magic, you're ready to put one in your actual piece.