I seem to be getting a large number of hits on the blog from people looking for how to tie chinese knots and I have only put up .png scans of a few finished knots, no instructions. So here is a link with instructions for some of the basic knots with diagrams. http://www.co.middlesex.nj.us/culturalheritage/chineseknotting/knots.html or there are books by Lydia Chen available and I saw some youtube videos about too.

The simpler knots you can just tie without assistance, but for the more complicated “pan chang” knot, I always use a block of styrofoam and heaps of pins to keep it in place as I’m working. I believe an accomplished knotter can do them just on their fingers (think I’d need my toes as well). It’s also much easier if you have a satiny type of cord to work with.