Barber’s pole knot

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to tie the barber’s pole knot.

The barber’s pole knot is named such because of the pattern that spirals around it’s length. It almost looks like a candy cane when done in appropriate colors.

In this tutorial I demonstrate the 6 bight version, which is one of the most practical. In the next tutorial I will also feature a 4 bight version which is smaller and quicker to do.

The barber’s pole is not an an interwoven casa turk’s head knot as you might expect. Traditionally it has been made with the method I will demonstrate below. It can be done as an interweave as well, but it does not have an over-under sequence.

In any case, the knot is actually extremely easy tie, considering how nice it looks.

Supplies

To tie the knot I have used the supplies listed below.

Tying the knot- tutorial

The next step is to tie the knot. This is done by first securing the standing end of the cord onto the mandrel, then attaching the lacing needle to the cord.

We will start by making the setup which we will then interweave with the second color. Do note that the setup for this knot is not a very stable one, so do not let that throw you off! Only when the second cord is woven in will the knot begin to look and feel more solid.

It is very important that you keep in the lanes when tying the knot, as you will see in the images below.

The starting position.

Begin by wrapping the cord around the mandrel.

Turn the working cord down and go over all the cords (in this case you will go over two).

This means you will cross the standing end.

Turn up and go under all the cords (two in this case).

Exit the top.

Turn back down and again go over all the cords.

You will again cross the standing end at the bottom.

Turn back up and under all the cords.

At the top turn back down, go over all the cords.

Reach the bottom.

Tuck in the working end next to the standing end.

With this we have set up the knot for the interweave. For the next color an opposite sequence will be used. When going up, we will go over all the green cords, when going down we will go under all the green cords.

The second cord is now introduced to the left of the standing end of the first cord.

The cord follows to the right of the standing end to the top of the knot. We go over all the green cords- we will always go over all the cords of the first color when going up.

At the top we turn back down and go under all the green cords until we reach the bottom. We cross over all the blue cords.

At the bottom we turn back up.

Going up we again cross over all the green cords and go under all the blue.

And down again, using the same rule when going down- under all the green.

We do this until we have created an over-under sequence (you will be able to tell when the knot is done by the look). The end is then tucked next to the standing end of the second color.

A video of the entire tying process is available here: