A few years ago I switched from the "Granny Knot" to the "Ian Knot" [0] in order to (1) eliminate the need for "double knotting" and (2) straighten the bow. Despite the few embarrassing times early in the process where friends observed me struggling to tie my shoes, I can confidently say the switch has been worth it.
I did this too and also momentarily forgot how to tie my shoes! (Forgot the new method, and the old method.) Now I have saved literally minutes of my life on shoe tying.
I want to say sincerely that this exchange is life-changing. I'm old and in rapidly declining physical health. I feel like my brain is working just fine, but the fact of my always-bad memory has been leaving me with the existentially terrifying question "is that going too?"
I realize now I've been having these incidents all my life. Recently I've had the niggling sensation that maybe it's just self-delusion. Nope! Been going on the whole time, just like the lot of you. Thanks for sharing, and I mean that.
A few weeks ago I went to play a piece on the piano. I completely blanked, tried to piece together the intro by ear but wasn't really getting anywhere. My teacher played the intro and then boom, the whole thing was back under my fingers.
Works well until you encounter a new keypad layout (eg when going abroad). I locked my card once like this although I had been typing the code for years before.
Android has this "draw a path through some dots in a grid" analogue to a PIN code. On the boot screen, the grid is a somewhat different size than on the unlock screen. This defeated my muscle memory, and my conscious memory had lost its backup.
This happens to me all the time when playing guitar. I could be there blankly strumming wondering what the notes were, but the moment I get something right, I’ve got it. Or sometimes it’s that I can’t remember the rhythm at all and I try to hum it or anything at all that might help me remember and once I’ve got the first few moments it comes flooding back.
It doesn’t help that I’m relatively new to guitar.
Same thing! I had played the piece 5 minutes before the lesson and right after the lesson warmup (I warmup before the lesson so that my teacher thinks I'm better than I really am...ego..self denial...whatever) he asks for the piece and I can't play beyond the first bar.
Is there a word or a phrase for this phenomenon? When something becomes a habit requiring no thought at all and then, when forced to actually think about it, the brain draws a complete blank?
Isn't it just muscle memory? Like how it is difficult to switch back and forth between a Qwerty keyboard and a Dvorak keyboard, except with the addition of balance thrown in.
I learned to tie Ian's Secure Knot when I had a pair of shoelaces that liked to come untied constantly (I guess the material was too slippery, or something). Never had the problem again.
Some other trivial life hacks aren't necessarily worth it in practice. With the T-shirt folding one, for instance, the bottom shirt of a stack of shirts tends to unfold itself when you pick up the stack, since one arm of the shirt is basically just folded underneath. The mild inconvenience outweighed the mild convenience for me, and I no longer fold shirts that way.
I'll probably tie my shoes with Ian's knot for life, though.
the ian's secure knot is one of those things that you don't think will make much of a difference to your daily life but it's like inventing a way to not stub your toe every now and again. well worth it.
I like that one also, never comes undone. However there is one major downside: When one of the ends accidentally goes through a loop before pulling on it to untie your shoes, you end up with a very annoying solid knot instead that takes time to fiddle apart.
Is it easy to do a tight Ian's Secure Knot? The only place I would need a more secure knot is when skiing and then I also need to tie the laces very tight. Keeping the laces tight while creating the loops seems slightly difficult.
I'm a figure skater. I tie my regular shoes with Ian's secure knot. My skating boots are tied with more regular knots however. Ski shoes would be very similar.
Ian's secure knot doesn't really make sense on such long laces anyway, and making it tight is not very easy because you can't pull to tighten further like you normally would.
The main advantage of Ian's secure knot is that it doesn't come loose over time. But you won't have that problem in ski or skating shoes because you will be redoing much more of the lacing every single time you put them on; a much tighter one at that. So the few hours you'll have your boots on shouldn't make a difference, and if it does, there's something else off in your lacing technique.
Yes, it does, but the Ian Knot is more reliable, especially in places where you don't have the instant muscle memory like shoelaces. If you learn the standard knot incorrectly it results in you doing a Granny Knot. But if you try to tie the Ian's Knot, you can't tie it incorrectly because it just doesn't work. And of course yes, it's faster.
ETA: Also, OP may have been tying a Granny Knot from time to time which results in shoelaces coming untied very quickly. So the Ian knot gets you both faster tied shoes and shoes that stay tied.
Well, tying the Ian Knot still requires you to do your starting knot in the correct orientation. Mixing it up will still result in the Granny Knot. From the other responses, it sounds like some are still getting Granny Knots even when using Ian's tying method.
You are correct, as indicated by the following quote on the page I linked: “The finished Ian Knot is identical to either the Standard Shoelace Knot [...].”
Changing my Granny Knot (unbalanced) to a Standard Shoelace Knot (balanced) would have produced the same result. However, I found the Ian Knot approach to be helpful in preventing me from absentmindedly reverting back to the Granny Knot.
Went to the shoes to test: Ian Knot is faster and the cord is “relaxed” (less internal stress to contribute towards loosening) rather than twisted.
I’ll try words to describe the Ian Knot: Cross the laces, tuck one under the other, and pull; let go, then pick up a “bunny ear” loop in each hand, one on either side of the pre-knot; with your middle finger, push the out-side of each “ear” through the opposite loop; with thumb and middle finger of each hand, grab the loops simultaneously as they come through; pull tight. Looks like a double knot (two loops, each around the neck of the other) with each free end fed back through, forming the loops and ensuring easy undoing.
How do you do it? I've been using it for more than a decade too and I can't make it that solid. I'm very active and clumsy so I'm really stressing the knot lots of times.
I do both together, starting with two twists and then also wrapping the loops twice.
I experimented with the double knot following some foot pain; the advantage for me is that the knot doesn't really slip any, allowing me to set the tension I want and not have to revisit it. I guess you then also have to make sure not to over-tighten.
I did the same thing! I fixed my granny knot habit years ago, but apparently also subconsciously weeded tie-every-time laces out of my habits--which is saying something, because I rarely wear anything but Chuck Taylors!
That Full Windsor - it's a revelation to me that it looks good even without the top button of the shirt buttoned. I also thought I had to button the top button of my shirt, which I hate.
The end result is identical, not really slower, it's easier to adjust the "proportion' during the process, and it works better with long sleeves with minor adjustment.
Half Windsor is still more in fashion and still produces a neat, symmetrical knot. Beware, though, after learning a good knot you will see the four in hand knot everywhere and it will annoy you.
I've been using the Full Windsor since my dad taught it to me when I was 13. I'm not much one for fashion, but I think it's a timeless knot. Apparently James Bond didn't think much of it though. :-)
> Also, tie wearers, take the time to learn a Full Windsor
I mean, if you are into attempts to simulate the look of a four-in-hand knot used on a wider piece of material as popularized by a particular celebrity Nazi sympathizer, sure.
Unless you are particularly tall, in which case finding ties long enough to wear with a full windsor is enough trouble that you might as well find something wide enough to achieve the effect the authentic way with a four-in-hand.
The Windsor looks nothing like the four-in-hand. It's a symmetric, full knot. The four-in-hand is asymmetric and skinny. I happen to think the Windsor is the best looking knot here:
The Windsor is an attempt to simulate, with a common tie, the look of a knot the late Duke of Windsor was known to wear, which was, in fact, a four-in-hand tied on a much wider (and, I suspect—though I have seen no documentation on this point—differently shaped) piece of material than common ties.
> I've been using it since I was 13. My father taught it to me. His father taught it to him. I've taught it to my son.
I’m not sure what relevance that has; I learned it about the same age, also from my father (who I suspect didn’t learn it from his father, whose personality, age, and socioeconomic background probably would not have inclined him to jump on that particular newfangled fashion trend.)
Yup, the Ian Knot and the Secure Knot (https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm) have taken over my household. The latter is particularly good for kids, who often learn the "bunny ears" method, but then switch to double-knotting and all the attendant untangling hassle.
And going from "Granny Knot" to "Ian Knot" is actually a lot simpler than relearning the correct way to tie the normal knot. I tried that first ... but relearning the exact same finger movements but mirrored was not possible for me.
I also use his "Secure Knot" [1] when hiking ... although my SO ridicules me for tying shoes with the bunny ears technique :-)
I have shoes I do not untie. For example, I have some mocassins for around the house with a rawhide lace that is basically a decoration. But it comes untied!
I remember coming across this website when I was 11 or 12. I went to school and showed the Ian Knot to my friends. I was like "guys, look how fast I can tie my shoelaces". They were all super impressed. I'm 23 now and this is still how I tie my shoelaces
I've been using the Ian knot for many years, to the point I'm now very slow making the normal knot.
I find the Ian knot effective enough, but I think it comes undone more easily than a normal shoelace knot, I had to tie my shoes a lot back when I was outside for many hours of the day and night.
Seconded. Since switching to the Ian knot I never find myself retieing my shoes. Even the granny knot version stays tied. It's especially good on thin slippery laces used on dress shoes.
I've been using the Ian knot for years now and every now and then (like once a year at most) someone will notice how quickly I tie my laces. It looks impossible for people used to the school method.
The problem I see with this is that with some types of laces the first knot could loosen up while making the second part. But that might be fixed with technique.
[0] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm