Medicine Bottle # 42; Almost Completely Covered By Three Gaucho Knots

Medicine Bottle #42; with three Gaucho knots covering all of it.

Medicine Bottle #42: This is a different bottle than the run of the mill prescription bottles you normally see here. The prescription turned out to be a whole bottle. So rather than count out the pills, and then put them in another bottle, she just slapped the labels on the factory bottle. In addition to the savings in labor, it probably saved 4 1/2 pennies for the bottle. These little savings add up and are good for the profit margin, you know.

The knots used on this bottle are, from the top:

The lid got a Spanish Ring knot of 2 passes, in white paracord. This makes the cap bigger around, thus easier to turn. The knot also increases the friction, which also helps. Now if the government’s contract with Lucifer would run out, and it would quit making everyone use these hellish “child resistant caps” … I think it was a deal with the Devil to make more people lose their tempers and curse — possibly even driving them over the edge, so they take out their anger on their fellow man.

The first knot on the body of the bottle is a Gaucho knot of 2 passes. The Tom Hall book tells me I should count all of the Leads and Bights in the finished knot, no matter which knotting method I used to get there — so it has 13 Leads X 11 Bights.

The lower knot is also a Gaucho knot of 2 passes, which counts out to be 9 Leads X 10 Bights.

Why did I use the phrase “no matter which knotting method I used to get there”? I am what you might call an instinctive knot tyer. Most of the time I sit down with a project I’m working on, some cord, and an idea. I very rarely think about the Leads X Bights. Most of the time I think in terms of the width I need to cover, and maybe a particular look. I then tie a knot in hand, and check for fit and appearance. If it looks OK, I work it down tight, and dress the knot. If it doesn’t look right, I start over. Because most of the things I have done are all of the same general dimensions, I usually get it right. The decision to make a Turk’s Head, or some variant, is made on the fly. Mae West used to say that when faced with two temptations she always tried the one she hadn’t experienced before. I tie knots the same way. I will go out of my way to find a new knot, or a new variation on an old knot, rather than getting really good at tying one old same-same knot. What can I say? I have a very low threshold when it comes to boredom.

Thank you for dropping by my site. I look forward to your visits, and to any comments you leave. Come back again; I’ll try to make it worth your while:

William