Members in the South West have been taking part in a series of decorative knotting workshops via Zoom. The workshops have been delivered by Phil Cook, a decorative knottyer with more than 25 years’ experience. The classes have become so popular, with word spreading to Members from other areas who have started to attend.

Phil has written a piece about the Blesma workshops that will be included in Knotting Matters magazine, part of the Guild of Knot Tyers who generously funded materials for the course.

“Considering the fabulous times I had working with Blind Veterans in Llandudno a few years ago, I jumped at the chance to work with Blesma,” said Phil. “I knew that veterans have a ‘can do’ attitude, so I was confident this would be fun! New challenges here, though, because workshops were held remotely via Zoom.

“It was important that each workshop produced a finished project, so I decided a Solomon Bar would be appropriate, because square knotting is fairly easy, and forms the basis for so many projects.

“We made a simple Zip Pull in the first workshop, which could also be used as a key fob. As usually happens with Solomon Bars, some managed to produce a twisted version!

“For the second workshop we made Turk’s Head knots! Ambitious, eh? Not at all. Following written instructions, Members slid their knots off a tube to make a coaster. In workshop three we would be making a poppy from the same Turk’s Head knot in time for in time for Remembrance Day. We finished off the workshop with a perennial favourite – Paracord Pals – and everyone was able to follow along really well.

“For workshop three – the all important poppy tying session – I had in mind three different ways for Members to tie the knot for the centre of the poppy, depending on how easy or tricky they were finding the knots so far.

“For those who got there quicker than others, I needed something in reserve to occupy them. Seeing as we’d already made a Solomon Bar, I issued a challenge to make a Cobra Bar bracelet using the techniques we’d used for the Zip Pull and for Paracord Pals.

“Workshops four and five looked at a couple of Christmas tree decorations, the first being a tree based on yet another Solomon bar. The other was a snowflake based on a series of snake knots (the design was one from WhyKnot’s YouTube Channel). It took a while to master the Christmas tree, so we squeezed in workshop five in December to do the snowflake. I found it interesting that the snowflake proved so much easier than the tree for everyone to master – a great note to finish 2020 on!

“The series of workshops last year proved to be a wonderful experience, and we’re now well into 2021 workshops. I’m looking forward to the day when the pandemic is over, and I can meet some of my new friends in person.

“I’m eternally grateful to Sarah Payne, Outreach Officer South West, for inviting me to get involved with such a fabulous bunch of folks, and for organising and running all the Zoom meetings.”

Phil ‘The Rope’ Cook

Knot Tyer

If you are interested in taking part in a Knot Tying workshop, please contact Sarah Payne on outreachsw@blesma.org