Ashley Book of Knots

I bought a copy of the 'Ashley Book of Knots', for my birthday, from Amazon.com.  Some consider it the knot tyer's bible.  One of my sisters gave me a gift certificate, so that brought the book into a more affordable range for me.

The book is huge at 640 pages, 3900 different knots, and 7000 illustrations, although a lot of duplicates in some of those knots, as I've been told by other knot tying friends that are more familiar with the book. It simply reminds me that I'm still just an amateur at knot work and there's always more to learn for those that want to.  :)

...a couple more boonie hats with paracord...

In the same style as the previous blog post, I put some neon/toxic green paracord on this black boonie hat and some black paracord on the olive drab one.

Type I Paracord Keychain Lanyards

These are made with type I paracord in a king cobra stitch using about 13 feet of cord. I used a swivel clip on one end and a small split ring on the other, and added the large keyring. The large keyring could be removed and it could be attached to a Swiss Army knife, flashlight, etc... I have one on my keyring now and attached the swivel clip to a belt loop so the keys hang down inside my pocket.

Boonie Hat with Paracord

A few of the guys on one of the forums had some different ways of adding paracord to their hats and caps, so I gave it a try, adding a loose cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet to my Dad's boonie hat.

 I used 23 feet of paracord on this particular hat, but more could be used if the knots are bunched up closer together.

The boonie hat has branch loops sewn all the way around the hat, which can be used for attaching the paracord, but if your hat doesn't have the loops, you could still attach/secure the paracord to the hat with safety pins for use as a hatband.

Ten feet of paracord attached to a carabiner.

1/16" utility cord

I found some 1/16" utility cord at the Army/Navy store. I've been told by a couple of folks that the cord is made by Atwood Rope Mfg., so you might look them up to contact them about distributors in your area. I also found some 3/4" and 1" wooden balls at a hobby/craft store to use for monkey fists.

Wide paracord bracelet...

Wide paracord bracelet with 1.5 inch side release buckle. The buckle is really too big for a paracord bracelet, but I think the design would work best for a fixed length dog collar or belt.  You could just use two or more smaller buckles, side-by-side, when making a bracelet version.

This pattern or variations of it could be made much wider for a type of paracord bracer/vambrace/gauntlet with multiple buckles, although it'd be tricky getting it to fit just right over a forearm varying in size from the wrist up...

Paracord Guitar Strap

Here is the paracord guitar strap I just completed. The guitar strap is about 6 ft long in finished length and is adjustable.  I used short pieces of paracord to tie it to a fixed length.

Using square knotting/macrame type knot work took about 90 feet of olive drab paracord and 50 feet of maroon, and I added leather guitar attachments(sewed on), which I took/scavenged from another guitar strap I had.

Total time to make the strap was around 6 to 7 hours, with such long lengths to work with taking a lot of time to keep untangled.

And J. Pruitt's photo of the strap with his guitar.
 

Monkey fists made with lacing leather.

Type I paracord lanyard in a 4-strand braid with a micro clip attached to a McGizmo Aleph body (shadowgrass camo) Surefire flashlight.

The lanyard can be clipped to an edc bag, beltloop, backpack, etc... or wrapped around the wrist and clipped to itself for use as a wrist strap/lanyard. 

Here's a mini monkey fist attached to a keychain light.
I used Type I paracord and a small marble, 5 turns in the fist. It's about the size of a cheese puff. 

Paracord belt, shoulder strap, gun sling, dog collar, etc...

This is a paracord belt I've started working on. I haven't finished it yet.
It's started with 4 strands of paracord, find the middle of each cord and loop them onto whatever type of attachment point/buckle you'll be using so that now you have 8 strands of cord to work with.
 Make two cobra stitches with the outer 4 strands, then one cobra stitch in the center(I have all mine the same, not alternated-seen as the center olive drab stitches). Just continue knotting the two outer, then one center, two outer, one center...
Aside from a belt, this might also work for a wide paracord bracelet, guitar strap, shoulder strap for a bag, or a wide dog collar for the big dawgs out there, and I'm sure others will have other ideas for uses, one someone mentioned as a gun sling.
I'm not sure how I'll finish it yet. Sometimes I spend hours trying things out and end up taking them apart and trying other ideas. This might end up like that, but I like the idea. I was going to try a "Slatt's Rescue Belt", but got frustrated with it and tried this instead.

Sometimes when I have shorter pieces of paracord left over from something, I try to figure out what to do with them.
I wasn't sure what I'd do with this, so I put it over my door knob and added a 'Do Not Disturb' sign to it.

Red, white, and blue 3-strand crown plait paracord keychains.
 I tied the same number of knots in both, the difference is that I removed the inner strands of the paracord from the one in fron(gutted)t.
 The larger used 5 feet of cord in twelve knots where the smaller used 4 feet in twelve knots.
 I started them with a simple overhand knot, just tighten it slowly to keep the cords from getting twisted/tangled and start tying from there. I added a split ring and did a couple more knots, trimmed and melted the ends, and that makes a nice fob for the keyring.

Here's a paracord dog leash in Crimson Tide colors..

Braided Paracord Dog Leash

Here's a 6 foot long navy blue and orange 4-strand diamond braid "Auburn Tigers" paracord dog leash.

I used 40 feet of paracord(20 ft navy blue and 20 feet orange). Find the middle of the cords, attach to a snap hook(you can find the snap hooks at Wal-Mart in the hardware section), and start braiding down from there.

Braid enough past 6 feet for the wrist strap and finish with a square sinnet, trim and melt the ends. I use about a foot or so of paracord to bind(whipping type binding, trim and melt the ends) to the main part of the leash for a wrist loop.

I pulled the thermometer off of an old keychain and put it with this compass. I used five feet of paracord and a swivel clip.

The thermometer is showing about 5 degrees warmer than what a couple of others I compared it with showed, so I'll just have to remember that for the accurate reading.

For the dogs...

I made this 6 foot long dog leash using the diamond braid. It took about 40 feet of black and neon green paracord to make it. I didn't have a snap hook, so I took the trigger snap off an old chain wallet and used it instead.

Navy blue and orange paracord spiral braid, finished in a square sinnet for a keychain lanyard/fob.

Braided neck lanyards...

I've tried making a few more paracord neck lanyards and I'm starting to get the hang of them. If you want a nice professionally made one, check out Widgnwhackers custom made lanyards.

Here's a couple Auburn Tiger flavored neck lanyards I made for some 'War Eagle' nuts in the family. One in the diamond braid and the other my first attempt at the 5-strand plait. The Book of Decorative Knots by Peter Owen has some great diagrams on 'how to' tie various decorative knots.