Spot the Frippet: knot.

We're terribly high-tech nowadays: we have Velcro, we have those wire twisty things, we have press studs, Sellotape, Blu tack, and self-adhesive more or less everything.

So why would we need knots?

Well, on ties:


illustration by Dave Ring, Europeana Fashion

and straggly plants:


photo: wiki how

and I suppose a bow is a sort of a knot, too:



and then there are all those other knots which form themselves by magic (is there such a thing as a knot gnome?) when you aren't looking. These are to be found in hoses, hair, and electric leads of every description.

As you may know, lengths of cotton thread come alive once threaded through a needle. It's the only way to account for all the nasty knotted loops and broken threads.

And how about trees? No, they don't tie themselves into knots very often, but the hard tissue where a branch meets a trunk forms a knot, which can be seen on almost any plank of bare wood:


photo by F pkalac

Knots: good or bad?

Count the ones you see today, and find out.

Spot the Frippet: knot. This word was cnotta in Old English.