The Coin Knot

雙錢結, 双钱结, 淡路結び, 날개매듭

Generalities

Unlike most of the core Chinese knots, this one has only a single layer and there is no clear progression to how it can be extended, but Hensel is composed almost entirely of knots based on the Double Coin Knot. Mats of almost unlimited size and shape (and a generally Celtic flavour) belong to this family. This knot is also often considered a member of the extended Macramé family.

Nomenclature

Chen 1: Double Coin Knot (雙錢結, simplified: 双钱结) [shuāng qián jié] (1), Ten Accord Knot 4(1)
ABoK: #817 Carrick Bend (1), Josephine Knot, Bosun's Knot, Basketweave Knot; Chinese Knot (3x4), Napolean Knot, Boatswain's Lanyard, Whistle Lanyard; #819/820 Prolong Knot; #821/822 French Sinnet; #823 Ocean Plat
Hensel Josephine Knot (1), Sailor's Breastplate Knot (1)
Lunger: Pretzel Knot (1)
Shaw: Half Carrick (1/2), Single Carrick (1/2), Double Carrick (1)
Ruri-Ishikawa: 淡路結び [あわじむすび, awaji musubi]
Yamamotoyama on Mizuhiki: Abalone Knot (1)

The Double Coin Knot of Chinese Knotting is the same as the sailors' Carrick Bend and the macramé artists' Josephine Knot. Basketweave Knot and the generically descriptive Flat Lanyard can be used to refer to this class of knots. The incredibly ambiguous (especially in this context) Chinese Knot can be use to refer to 3x4 or bigger versions of this knot. Mat and plat often refer to knots of this class. ABoK #818-841 explores extensions and variations.

In naming this family of knots, I waffled between Coin and Josephine. Coin is nice, short, descriptive and succinct, but Josephine, a woman's name, is a nice contrast to all the male names that sailors have applied to knots. Also, Josephine is the name of one of my best friends while growing up. So for political and sentimental reasons I almost opted for Josephine, but succinct and descriptive won out in the end.

The Chinese (雙錢結) machine translates as "double money", "double coin" back translates as "雙幣", but these are just machine translation issues.

The Japanese (淡路結び, ) has no current direct English translation when given to online dictionaries. Google Translate simply gives back the romanization "awaji". wwwjdic gives no translation but does give the meaning "var. of knot often used to tie mizu-hiki; (2) woman's hairstyle, braided in this fashion". Following the trail from the mizuhiki side, however, results in a translation of "abalone (shell)" knot.

Due to preferences in Korean design, both the sauvastika and double coin knots are rarely used (or instructions presented) in isolation. Their most common uses are as wings in dragonflies and butterflies, respectively. In consultation with Bae Ky (배키), however, we can say that the double coin knot is the 날개매듭 (nalgae maedeup) or (plain) wing knot.

How To

double coin knot
Double Coin Knot
Josephine!
Double Coin Mat Knot Carrick Mat, Double Coin Ring
Plum Blossom Mat Knot Double Carrick Mat
Ten Accord Mat Knot Four double coins ringing a fifth merged into a single knot.
Kringle Mat Knot A ring of five double coins merged into a single knot
2n (Even) Coin Knot A round, even lobed version of the coin knot of any size.
2n+1 (Odd) Coin Knot A round, odd lobed version of the coin knot of any size.
Long Coin Knot A long version of the coin knot of any length.
Rectagular Coin Knot Square Carrick Mat/Wide Net Knot.
A rectagular coin knot of arbitrary size.
Prolong Knot 锦囊结 (Brocade Bag)
Ocean Plat Odd lobed version of the prolong knot (which always has an even number of lobes).

Similar Knots