• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Artisan Life
  • Dot Marker Pages
  • Learning Center
  • Seasonal Printables
    • Winter Printables
    • Valentine's Day printables
    • St. Patrick's Day printables
    • Earth Day
    • Easter printables
    • Mother's Day
    • Fall printables
    • Thanksgiving Printables
    • Christmas Printables
  • Printable Calendars
  • Preschool + K
    • Alphabet Tracing Worksheets
    • Dot Marker Pages
    • Cut & Paste Crafts
    • Preschool Math
    • Fine Motor Practice Pages
    • Spanish Preschool Pages
  • Coloring Pages
  • Shop
  • Recipes
    • Healthy dessert recipes
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Dot Marker Pages
  • Free Printables
    • Preschool worksheets
    • Free Printable Coloring Pages
    • Printable journals & planners
  • Learning Center
  • Shape Templates
  • Coloring Pages
  • St Pat's Printables
  • Desserts
  • Dot Marker Bundle
  • Shop
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Dot Marker Pages
    • Free Printables
      • Preschool worksheets
      • Free Printable Coloring Pages
      • Printable journals & planners
    • Learning Center
    • Shape Templates
    • Coloring Pages
    • St Pat's Printables
    • Desserts
    • Dot Marker Bundle
    • Shop
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Uncategorized

    How to Tie a British Admiralty Pattern Monkey's Fist Knot - DIY Wedding Knot Idea

    Published: May 22, 2014 · Modified: Feb 4, 2025

    94 shares
    • Share

    This post may include affiliate links, which means I may make a commission on purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. 

    There are, in fact, two different ways to tie the popular monkey's fist knot. Looking back, I believe the so-called British Admiralty way is actually the first method I learned about 15 years ago. Relearning the knot was somewhat frustrating and none of the excellent visual tutorials online show the British Admiralty pattern variation. The two methods of tying the monkey's fist create, essentially, the same knot. However, the British Admiralty version is slightly more difficult, takes a little more rope, and looks cleaner because it doesn't have visible 'bends' on the corners. It tends to sit flat more easily and is generally a tighter, more attractive knot. This tutorial shows you how to tie the British Admiralty pattern monkey's fist with lots of photos so that, hopefully, more folks can discover this cool knot!

    How to Tie a British Admiralty Pattern Monkey's Fist (great for DIY weddings!)

    While I hope this tutorial will be useful for a wide variety of people, it is part of my DIY wedding series. Monkey's fist knots are very popular in my Etsy store as decorations, photo props, and nifty, unique place card holders. Learning to tie a new knot and practicing it enough that it actually looks, well, presentable can take a bit of time, but if you're a determined DIYer, this could be a cool wedding project for you! I still haven't decided whether or not I'll tie these knots for our upcoming wedding, but I know lots of other brides have used them.

    Monkey's fist knots also make great book ends, doorstops, or even just decorations around the home, and, of course, there are the ever popular paracord keychains! No matter what you use this knot for, I hope you enjoy the tutorial and learn how to create something new.

    When you're learning to tie a new knot, it is important to use actual rope (not just a piece of string you found lying around!). The picture knot was tied in ¼" manila, and I high recommend it as a great learning rope. It's stiff enough to hold the knot's form without a solid center, inexpensive, easy to find, and you won't have to use so much rope that everything becomes a tangle. Of course, you can use whatever rope you'd like, but the measurements for this tutorial are based on my favorite manila line. You can also make as many wraps as you'd like, but this tutorial shows how to tie the knot using four wraps.

    Materials needed

    • About 10 feet of ¼" manila rope (you'll have some extra to trim away)
    • Scissors that can cut your rope
    • Glue (optional. I prefer to use Gorilla brand wood glue.)

    10 feet of manila rope

    How to tie a British Admiralty pattern monkey's fist knot

    1. Make four loops of rope at one end, as shown. Tie them loosely around your hand and try to keep all four wraps about the same size.

    make four wraps

    2. Bring the working end across the loops you just made, as shown. Keep it towards the top of these loops because you'll need to make additional passes under it.

    begining the second pass of wraps

    3. Make four passes around your original loops, working your way down as you go.

    wrap down the knot

    4. Now it's time to make your final passes. This is the only tricky part! Pass the working end under the "left" side of the passes you just made in step 3...

    send the working end through

     

    send the working end through underneath_

    5. ...Around the outside of the passes opposite your starting point and back in the upper "right" side of the knot...

    send the working end around and back through

    6. ...And finally back out the font so that it exits diagonally up from where you began this pass on the lower left. The rope should cross diagonally from left to right inside the knot.

    send the working end around and out

    7. Tighten this loop down a little and then make three additional passes, working from right to left. With each pass, make sure you go under the second set of passes on both sides and under the diagonal pass inside the knot.

    making the third set of passes

    8. When made correctly, both ends of the rope should come out next to each other.

    british style monkeys fist

    9. Tighten down the knot until you're satisfied.

    10. At this point, you can either finish the ends outside the knot (by splicing, tying, etc.) or by tucking them into the knot. If you're planning to use the knot as vase filler or a card holder, I recommend hiding the knot ends inside the knot. To do this, untuck both ends from their last wraps, trim the ends so they can just fit back where they came from without sticking out the far side, tighten the knot, as needed, to prevent gaps, and then tuck the ends back in place. If you'd like, you can coat each end with glue before inserting it to ensure it stays well hidden.

    trimmed ends

    completed monkeys fist

    And there you have it! Your very own, beautiful, British Admiralty pattern monkey's fist knot. If you're accustomed to tying monkey's fists the other way, the tightening pattern may seem a little strange at first, but you'll catch on soon.

    When using a softer line, whether its paracord or cotton rope, you may need to insert a ball into the knot's center to help it hold its form. These 4" cotton knots have a table tennis ball in the middle to ensure the rope stays in place!

     

    This curtain tie back uses a wooden ball to ensure the knot hangs well.

     

    When gluing manila or sisal rope, I really prefer to use Gorilla wood glue because it dries more clear than other wood glues (and stronger than most "white glues"). As you know if you've ever used wood glue, it has a tendency to be yellow! Gluing your knot isn't always necessary, but now you know what to use if you do!

    If you're looking to improve your knot work in general, I highly recommend The Marlinspike Sailor. It's an oldie but a goodie, as it were.

    While I've tried hard to make these instructions clear, learning a knot from pictures is difficult! If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll do my best to help.

     

     

     

    More Uncategorized

    • Text "free printable all about my teacher questionnaire" with a preview of a cute teacher questionnaire printable
      Free Printable All About my Teacher Questionnaire
    • Text "fine motor tracing worksheets" with a preview of seven fine motor tracing worksheets for preschoolers
      Free Printable Thanksgiving Prewriting Worksheets
    • Free Printable Beginner 4x4 Sudoku Puzzles
    • A preview of two printable November calendar pages for 2023
      Free Printable November Calendar 2023
    94 shares
    • Share
    text "access hundreds of printables now"

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Wendy K

      June 25, 2018 at 11:24 am

      Thank you! At first I thought that I wouldn't be able to make these with your step by step directions (I wanted a video) but after a few tries I did it. Your directions are clear and easy to follow, it just takes a little patience and practice. I made 28 of these for my niece's nautical themed wedding. She used them to as table number card holders. We received many compliments. Thanks again!

      Reply
      • Natasha

        June 29, 2018 at 9:08 am

        I'm so glad you figured them out and your niece enjoyed them! I used to sell these knots for table number holders and know how long it takes to make that many - it's quite a task! But they really are cute and special.

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Text "Hello! I'm Natasha!" with an image of a woman a blue shirt

    Hi, I’m Natasha! I'm so glad you're here.

    I'm a former classroom teacher with a Masters of the Arts in Teaching turned homeschooler. I share educational & planner printables for busy parents and teachers. Simplify your life when you discover how to instantly access 700+ printables here!

    More about me →

    Popular

    • A collection of bold and easy Christmas coloring pages featuring cute animals in various festive scenes, designed for a cozy holiday coloring experience.
      Free Printable Bold and Easy Christmas Animals Coloring Pages
    • A collection of three printable makeup coloring pages features images of a girl applying makeup and various beauty products, designed for easy coloring and available as free printables.
      Free Printable Makeup Coloring Pages
    • A collection of three black-and-white cottagecore coloring pages featuring a frog in a dress, a snail on a mushroom, and a cottage with the text "Welcome Home," presented as free printables for cottagecore-themed coloring activities.
      Free Printable Cottagecore Coloring Pages
    • Three free printable coloring pages featuring a construction theme for kids, showcasing various construction tools and a character building with a hammer.
      Free Printable Construction Site Coloring Pages

    The Artisan Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

    The Artisan Life also uses affiliate links for other sites. For a full look at my policy, please visit its page here.

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer

    Save Time

    • Join the Learning Center for quick & easy access to hundreds of printables

    Contact

    • Contact

    If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: natashalh(at)stalkingthewildsnark(dot)com. I do not accept guest posts and will not respond to unsolicited requests for guest posts or links. Stock images by Depositphotos

    COPYRIGHT © 2012 – 2025 The Artisan Life · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED