How to Tie a Rope Knot for a Package

Packages can be tied together or secured with knots.

The tying of knots has for centuries been a vital skill to accomplish a range of different tasks, from the practical to the merely decorative, and from the simple to the complex. The package knot, for example, is a practical knot that derives from the equally common noose-style knot and is used to secure packages for transport or shipping. Package knots serve several useful functions and are easy to master.

Things You'll Need

• Long rope

Instructions

1. Take one end of the rope and make a small loop at the end. Make another slightly larger loop of rope and place it over the small loop. The end tip of the rope should be facing towards the remainder of the rope opposite the loop. You can view images of this in Reference 1 of this article.

2. Gently pull on the first smaller loop and pull it through the larger loop away from the rest of the rope to create a noose-like knot.

3. Pull the bight (the actual knot) slowly away from the noose loop, making it large enough to fit around the package. Place the noose loop around the package so it wraps around the center of the package. You can view images in Reference 2 of this article.

4. Take the long end of the rope and wrap it around the underside of the package (opposite the side where the noose knot is positioned).

5. Loosely make a U-shape with the rope over the underside of the noose loop on the bottom. Bring the loose end back towards the U-shape and run it under the length of rope that is part of the noose loop. Pull the rest of the length of rope through under the noose-loop rope section. You will have 4 roughly equal lengths of rope crossing the bottom of the package, creating a four-section grid design.

6. Turn the package right-side up as you bring the loose end of the rope back to the top of the package. Bring it under the length of rope directly under the original noose knot. From there bring it up and under the top length of rope above the noose knot. Bring it around and back under the length of rope directly under the original noose knot again and pull tightly. A tight circle of rope should be around the noose knot.

7. Take each of the two loose ends (one may be shorter) and loop one around the left length of rope next to the knot and one around the right length of rope. Repeat this until the rope's loose ends are entirely looped around the knot section. Pull tightly to secure.

Tips & Warnings

• Use scissors to cut the excess length of rope if there is more than an inch or two left.

References

• Animated Knots: How to tie a noose knot
• Animated Knots: How to tie a parcel knot