Nautical Fun with Monkey Fists

I am beginning to see these popping up everywhere, are you?

These  beautiful balls of organized texture.

I didn't know what they were until recently.  They are called "monkey fists" and are a nautical knot used to throw the boat line to the shore man.

So many ways to add them to your decor.

Mantle

Nautical display

Book shelves

They are surprisingly easy to make.  

The more you make, the better you get at them.

All you need is some good twine, rope, or string.  

The thickness of the rope or twine you use 

will determine the circumference of your finished "ball" or "monkey fist".

It is better to use a material that has some stiffness to it 

because you need to work with the rope as you tighten it up.

The tutorial I followed is at Animated Knots and was helpful.

Basically you are wrapping your rope around your hand  four times.  Then you are wrapping around the middle of these loops four times.  Lastly you wrap around the four loops you just made, (inside the first set of loops).

Once you have completed this last step, the next step is to tighten down all your "loops".  This can take a little time.  But you just follow your string, pulling and tightening each section of loops.  The end product is a tight little ball with even rows of four lines on each side.

Larger ones look great in beach displays, on a mantel or shelf.  Mid-size ones are great for a special table scape.  Small ones can be used as zipper pulls on back packs or as package ties, or filling a display jar.

Have fun~

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