The International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) is a very friendly association of people, whose interests are in ropes, knots and knotting techniques of all kinds.
We have about a thousand members world-wide from all walks of life including knitters, surgeons, sailors, climbers, anglers, scouters, magicians, farmers, miners and mathematicians. Membership is open to anyone interested in knotting, ropes, cords and yarn (whether expert or simply hoping to learn from others).
We’ve just celebrated our fortieth anniversary in 2022 and produced over 150 issues of our journal Knotting Matters. The journal contains news and ideas from all aspects of knotting and is full of useful and interesting articles, letters, queries and opinions.
There are active branches of IGKT around the world and we are always very happy when another group starts up. The UK has most of these (it is a small country which makes travelling to events fairly easy) at eight, USA has three and there are national organisations in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, German and Netherlands. Non-English-speaking knotters can join their national organisations without needing to join IGKT.
Latest News
Forthcoming Special Events
World Knot Tying Day - September 18th 2022
Each year IGKT commemorates the death, on September 18th 1947, of the author of the knot-tyers' 'bible' - Clifford Ashley.
Please join us by tying a knot on that day and sending a photo of it to #worldknottyingday on Instagram, Facebook or other media of your choice.
IGKT Australia Meeting - Geelong 2nd-4th September
From 2-4 September a meeting of Australian IGKT members will be held in the National Wool Museum in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The meeting will be the second meeting, after the successful event held in Toowoomba in 2019. (Covid has delayed this second meeting by many months).
Geelong is a port city south west of Melbourne in State of Victoria. The Museum’s location is very central and close to the waterfront. Attractions in the district are excellent and traffic movement gentle.
Opening day on Friday 2 September will be for setting up and meeting old friends and fellow tanglers. The public will be flowing through the museum as normal and numbers of onlookers should be great. Opening hours for the exhibition are from 10am each morning.
On the Saturday night, there is an evening meal at a local hotel (close to the museum) with a guest speaker and yarns over drinks.
For Sunday, it's up to the members when they choose to depart and say their good-byes.
Word has it that Macca from "Australia All Over " (ABC Radio) may attend the meeting as he did in Tamworth.
It’s All About Knots – Turku, Finland September 16-18 2022
This Knot-Tying festival is open to all.
Please contact Mikko Snellman (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for more information.
2022 AGM and 40th Anniversary
May 2022 saw the first post-pandemic meeting of the Guild for our Spring Symposium and AGM at the Hallowtree Scout Centre in Ipswich UK. Three years had passed since the pre-Covid Weymouth event in 2019 and it was splendid that we were able to renew friendships and celebrate the 40th Anniversary of IGKT and be able to mark the retirement from ‘active duty’ of one of our joint founders, Des Pawson, MBE. Apart from the exhibition, talks and demonstrations, we had an excellent trip on a beautiful, original Thames barge. The AGM business was carried on as a hybrid Zoom meeting, with attendees from about eight countries participating.
Knotting Resource Archive
In July 2022 we arranged with the Brunel Institute, an organisation set up by the SS Great Britain Trust and the University of Bristol, England, to house our collection of knotting and ropework books in the Institute’s library. The collection consists of books the IGKT has amassed over it’s 40 years of operating, along with a considerably larger number of volumes from a founder member.
The Brunel Institute library is open daily to the public throughout the year and is free to visit. The cost of incorporating the books into the Institute’s library is being funded by a very generous donation from a member in the USA.
When the books have been catalogued by the library, later in 2022, the titles will be searchable on the Brunel Institute’s website.
Thanks to the generosity of George, the IGKT has been able to set up a fund to provide funds for helping and encouraging members, especially younger members, to engage in an ‘extraordinary’ activity which involves knotting and the Guild. For full details please see the Member News section here.
