ETA: Also, OP may have been tying a Granny Knot from time to time which results in shoelaces coming untied very quickly. So the Ian knot gets you both faster tied shoes and shoes that stay tied.
Changing my Granny Knot (unbalanced) to a Standard Shoelace Knot (balanced) would have produced the same result. However, I found the Ian Knot approach to be helpful in preventing me from absentmindedly reverting back to the Granny Knot.
Especially funny to casually mention it to coworkers or seniors
Also, tie wearers, take the time to learn a Full Windsor:
I’ll try words to describe the Ian Knot: Cross the laces, tuck one under the other, and pull; let go, then pick up a “bunny ear” loop in each hand, one on either side of the pre-knot; with your middle finger, push the out-side of each “ear” through the opposite loop; with thumb and middle finger of each hand, grab the loops simultaneously as they come through; pull tight. Looks like a double knot (two loops, each around the neck of the other) with each free end fed back through, forming the loops and ensuring easy undoing.
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.
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.
There is also 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#identica...
https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/doublestartknot.htm
And then also a surgeons knot is shown:
https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/surgeonknot.htm
(which doesn't use the double starting knot)
I do both together, starting with two twists and then also wrapping the loops twice.
I experimented with the double knot following some foot pain; the advantage for me is that the knot doesn't really slip any, allowing me to set the tension I want and not have to revisit it. I guess you then also have to make sure not to over-tighten.
I read about it here: https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/running-doc-d...
From 1994!
And I like being reminded of the great pressure many creative spirits feel. It's serious business, managing pressure and also doing your work.
I use the standard "bunny goes around the tree" methodology, except I go around twice before pulling the loop through both.
It might be easier for your use case, because you can hold the knot with one hand while sending the bunny around the tree with the other.
“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.“
So for those kinds of things, I use the ian secure knot: 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. :)
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.
The brain really is fascinating.
It doesn’t help that I’m relatively new to guitar.
Ian's secure knot doesn't really make sense on such long laces anyway, and making it tight is not very easy because you can't pull to tighten further like you normally would.
The main advantage of Ian's secure knot is that it doesn't come loose over time. But you won't have that problem in ski or skating shoes because you will be redoing much more of the lacing every single time you put them on; a much tighter one at that. So the few hours you'll have your boots on shouldn't make a difference, and if it does, there's something else off in your lacing technique.
I mean, if you are into attempts to simulate the look of a four-in-hand knot used on a wider piece of material as popularized by a particular celebrity Nazi sympathizer, sure.
Unless you are particularly tall, in which case finding ties long enough to wear with a full windsor is enough trouble that you might as well find something wide enough to achieve the effect the authentic way with a four-in-hand.
My mum frequently punches in her postal code instead.
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.
It's the one I use with my paracord laces.
Never comes undone.
[0]: https://youtu.be/LXjOLWgWq9khttps://www.ties.com/how-to-tie-a-tie/windsor
(Scroll down to Explore More Knots.)
I've been using it since I was 13. My father taught it to me. His father taught it to him. I've taught it to my son.
I haven't tied the the Pratt knot before, but it looks like it's a nice nearly symmetrical knot that doesn't use up much of the tie.
The Windsor is an attempt to simulate, with a common tie, the look of a knot the late Duke of Windsor was known to wear, which was, in fact, a four-in-hand tied on a much wider (and, I suspect—though I have seen no documentation on this point—differently shaped) piece of material than common ties.
> I've been using it since I was 13. My father taught it to me. His father taught it to him. I've taught it to my son.
I’m not sure what relevance that has; I learned it about the same age, also from my father (who I suspect didn’t learn it from his father, whose personality, age, and socioeconomic background probably would not have inclined him to jump on that particular newfangled fashion trend.)
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 :-)
For the future, you can usually create these for yourself by going to top of the sites that I linked.
I've played for 16 years and I still have these moments. But thankfully it's so satisfying when the music finally kicks in.