Nautical Knot Tying: Monkey's Fist

Mr. Monogram grew up on the water and with his dad always owning a sailboat or sport fishing boat and his step-father owning a marina, it is fair to say he has been sailing since a very young age. He has taken me sailing in various parts of Florida, in Mexico, St. Lucia, and in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy, and although I am not a big fan of boats, he is an excellent sailor (just don't tell him I admitted to that, mkay?). All this explains why he is great at all the fun yet confusing nautical knots that we all love so much.

Every summer I buy the mini's sailors bracelets from Nantucket Knotworks and swear I'm going to sit down a learn to do it myself but it never happens. It's sort of become one of our summer traditions, that the first day of their summer when school lets out, they each get their new bracelet for the summer. One of these days I really will sit down and learn how to do it, but before I show you how to do that, starting off with the classic Monkey's Fist Knot seems a little easier.

The Monkey's Fist Knot is sort of a roundish square knot that in it's large form, is tied around a heavy weighty object on the end of a heaving line to assist in docking a boat. But I've seen them in different sized used as bookends, door stoppers, and at Nantucket Knotworks, they even sell small ones as key chains which I love. And while they've got a convenient little kit for you to purchase, I'm going to show you a fantastic tutorial on how to do it yourself. I mean, I can already imagine these as great Christmas ornaments on mini #2's nautical themed tree in his bedroom, can't you?!


How to tie a monkey's fist - More DIY How To Projects