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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. Des
by iandinwoodie 5y ago
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.
[0] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm
- lwansbrough 5y agoI 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.
- elliekelly 5y agoIs 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?
- mindfulmark 5y agoPersonally I call this « playing piano », as I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten passed this stage when practicing..
- sixhobbits 5y agoIn classical music at least it's often referred to as a "memory lapse"
- Andrex 5y agoYour comment got me looking into the phenomenon, and I found this great article: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-07-17-1994198196-story.html https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-07-17-19941981... From 1994!
- coyotespike 5y agoWonderful article, great find! And I like being reminded of the great pressure many creative spirits feel. It's serious business, managing pressure and also doing your work.
- ie21 5y agoWould love to read if anyone has it mirrored? Looks like the original article isn't available for EU market.
- nkurz 5y agoMaybe one of these two will work: https://outline.com/SeEEHt https://outline.com/SeEEHt https://archive.is/D05nu https://archive.is/D05nu For the future, you can usually create these for yourself by going to top of the sites that I linked.
- ie21 5y agoWorks great! Also on other sites, thanks for the tip.
- kibwen 5y agoYes, "the centipede effect": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Centipede%27s_Dilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Centipede%27s_Dilemma
- sebmellen 5y agoWhat a great poem: “A centipede was happy – quite! Until a toad in fun Said, "Pray, which leg moves after which?" This raised her doubts to such a pitch, She fell exhausted in the ditch Not knowing how to run.“
- davidgh 5y agoCheck out the Backwards Brain Bicycle. Lots of fun. https://youtu.be/MFzDaBzBlL0 https://youtu.be/MFzDaBzBlL0
- __mharrison__ 5y agoEmacs!
- HPsquared 5y agoThat and, apologies in advance, the phenomenon of 'manual breathing'.
- arc-in-space 5y agoSome refer to it as an effect of muscle memory. Something you can do effortlessly, but can't actually describe how to another person.
- laurieg 5y agoA 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. The brain really is fascinating.
- dkersten 5y agoThis 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.
- virgoerns 5y ago> It doesn’t help that I’m relatively new to guitar. I've played for 16 years and I still have these moments. But thankfully it's so satisfying when the music finally kicks in.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI went to the shops yesterday and forgot the PIN code for both my cards. I've been typing one of those in for nearly 20 years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ My mum frequently punches in her postal code instead.
- mkesper 5y agoTry to remember the finger movements.
- sdeframond 5y agoWorks 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.
- tomcam 5y agoI 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.
- kilovoltaire 5y agoI recently did this too, took about a week to get in the habit but now it's great!
- searine 5y ago>the switch has been worth it. So I think it is clear that there are better alternatives to a granny knot in a technical sense, I am still skeptical that there is really value added. Outside of achieving fashion perfection on a Hollywood red carpet, I find it hard to imagine there is value in spending the time and energy to learn and remember to tie your shoes the right way, rather than just a double knot. It seems like more of a burden than anything.
- oldandboring 5y agoI've been using the Ian knot since around 2005 and it's easily the most impactful "life hack" I've ever made. My shoes basically never come untied.
- procinct 5y agoDoesn’t it still produce the same knot as the standard shoe tie knot? I thought it was just a faster method?
- dsego 5y agoOne is symmetric, the other one isn't.
- ddlatham 5y agoYes. I'd guess he means Ian's Secure Knot, which I also now use. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
- weaksauce 5y agothe 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.
- smrq 5y agoI 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.
- birktj 5y ago
- ce4 5y agoAlso for fun times observe people's knots around you :) Especially funny to casually mention it to coworkers or seniors
- js2 5y agoThe "Ian Knot" pairs well with the Japanese T-shirt folding technique: https://youtu.be/dNr1oLhZ0zs https://youtu.be/dNr1oLhZ0zs Also, tie wearers, take the time to learn a Full Windsor: https://youtu.be/HXJx8j7JpKY https://youtu.be/HXJx8j7JpKY
- tunesmith 5y agoThat 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.
- techrat 5y agoEvery time I try to do the Japanese fold... this is how it ends up: https://i.imgur.com/FBYu2Ry.gif https://i.imgur.com/FBYu2Ry.gif
- fireattack 5y agoI honestly never find that folding technique better than just.. fold it thrice using the exactly same three folding lines: https://i.imgur.com/CRxFYwS.png https://i.imgur.com/CRxFYwS.png 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.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- globular-toast 5y agoHalf 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.
- js2 5y agoI'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. :-)
- tiagod 5y agoI'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.
- ilyagr 5y agoAs mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the end result of the Ian knot is supposed to be identical to the standard shoelace knot, see https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknottech.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknottech.htm. There is also https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm. There is a handy listing of which knots are actually different towards the bottom of this page: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knotcomparison.htm#identical:~:text=loop.-,Identical%20Finished%20Knot https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knotcomparison.htm#identica...
- dhimes 5y agoThis looks like a square knot with loops- which is exactly how I tie mine
- keithnz 5y agolove this guys site, and I like that fast one, but I find this one a really good one https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
- roland35 5y agoIan knot is the best! Unfortunately my wife isnt as impressed by my knot tying ability as I thought she would be
- grae_QED 5y agoI do this as well. Once I learned how to do the Ian knot I never went back.
- kuang_eleven 5y agoSame here. In fact, in looking at the Ian Knot page again, I might start tying the "Starting Knot" differently as well!
- m463 5y agoI 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! So for those kinds of things, I use the ian secure knot: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm Actually, with the rawhide nonsense on one pair, even that would eventually come loose so I zip-tied the middle of the knot. :)
- globular-toast 5y agoI'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.
- skrebbel 5y agoWow that site's explanation is amazing. I learned it in 2 minutes! Life changing shit!
- spurgu 5y agoThe 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.
- Zecc 5y agoSame here. You might been interested in learning about the lace lock[0] as well, if you haven't already. [0]: https://youtu.be/LXjOLWgWq9k
- circuit_ 5y agoI 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
- fho 5y agoTotally worth it! 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 :-) [1] https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
- phibz 5y agoSeconded. 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.
- sanityinc 5y agoYup, the Ian Knot and the Secure Knot (https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm 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.