Some of You Tie Your Shoelaces Wrong

You probably learned how to tie your shoelaces as a child and haven’t thought about how to tie your shoelaces since then. But if your shoes keep getting untied, maybe we should go back to the tutorial on tying your shoelaces. You see, there are two ways to tie a standard shoelace knot, and only one of them will hold securely.

How shoe lacing works

No matter how you form the knot – the big loop method , the Chirio method , Jan’s knot , or the unnamed version that I learned, when you make one loop and then wrap another thread around it – you form the same basic thing. . The fact is that these are two nodes on top, one on top of the other.

A straight knot is the first kind you tie before doing something that ends in loops. To make a top knot, you simply cross two strands—say, the right one over the left—and slide one strand under the cross.

The second step in tying the shoes is also the top knot. It’s just that you form this knot from a double loop of lace, and not from a single thread. If you are using the “big loops” or “rabbit ears” method, this is pretty obvious. If not, then just know that this is what happens in the end. (The doubling is only to make the knot quick-release, so you don’t have to dig your nails into a tight knot to take your shoes off every night.)

Since you are laying two knots on top of each other, you are effectively making a square knot. Or a grandmother’s knot. Which one you get depends on exactly how you wired it.

Difference between square knot and granny knot

Let’s ignore the loops in our shoelaces for the moment and talk about what happens when you fold two knots at the top.

You begin the knot by crossing two strands, either the right over the left or the left over the right. In any case, it’s good.

If you cross the second knot in the opposite direction, you will get a square knot that holds the two strands tightly together.

If you tie the second knot from the top in the same way as the first, you will get a “grandmother” knot that will slip out easily.

To view:

• Right over left, then left over right: square knot, good.
• Left over right, then right over left: still a square knot, still good.
• Right over left, then right over left again: a grandmother’s knot prone to slipping.
• Left to right, then left to right again: another granny knot!

This video shows the difference between a square knot and a granny knot:

How to understand that you tied your shoelaces incorrectly

So, let’s say you tie your shoelaces using the bunny ear method. First you make a straight knot, right over left; then you make bunny ears. If you cross the right rabbit ear over the left, you will make a granny knot and your shoes will always hang out. If you tie the bunny ears on the left over the right, you will get a secure square knot.

There is another clear sign of a grandmother’s knot besides untying: a crooked grandmother’s knot. On the arch of your shoe, there will be one loop pointing to the ankle and another loop pointing to the toe. Shoes tied with a square knot will have two sides of the bow pointing towards the sides of your shoes.

This applies to any occasion where you want to tie two knots at the top. Put a bandana on your head? Right over left, then left over right. Tie a trash bag? Right over left, then left over right. You get the idea. The bow tie? Same as with your shoes, a somewhat fussy procedure that ends up in a square knot if you did it right.

If you’re using the granny knot and can’t figure out how to make a bow going the other way, simply change the way you make your original knot and then tie the bow as you normally would. So if you usually start from right to left, just make sure you do left to right and then tie the bow normally.

Finally, there is a saying among sailors and other outdoor enthusiasts: “If you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot.” This means that if you can’t figure out how to make a proper square knot, your best bet is to take looped laces and tie them twice. You know how you did when you were a kid and couldn’t tie your shoelaces. This trick still works today.