7. UPSETTING A SQUARE KNOT
This is a very useful principle and it is surprising how many performers do not know it. Fig. 34 shows a double knot—the regular square or reef knot—in the formation of which the ends always lie parallel with the body of the silk. If you grip the silk at the point C with one hand and the end A with the other, the knot will “upset” and AC will be pulled out straight with two loops round it (Fig. 35). A very slight pull will slip these free and the knot is untied. The same result follows if the pull is made at D and B, the end BD coming out straight with two loops round it.
If, in tying the second knot, the ends A and B are passed the opposite way— that is to say, A going under the loop and B above it—the resulting knot is called a “granny” and the ends will lie at right angles instead of parallel to the body of the silk. To upset such a knot, take hold of the silk to the left of the knot with the left hand and the end that points toward the body with the right hand and pull as before.
The best way to learn this “upsetting,” but simple, principle is to make the knots by tying the ends of two differently colored handkerchiefs together.
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