The International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) is an association of people with interests in knots and knotting techniques of all kinds.

We have about a thousand members world-wide, from all walks of life, including academics, surgeons, sailors, sportsmen and women, scouters, magicians, farmers, miners and accountants. Membership is open to anyone interested in knotting (whether expert or simply hoping to learn from others).

We now have an official facebook group too!

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Postal problems and Knotting Matters

A number of copies the last issue of Knotting Matters, mailed by the printers in the second week of March, have arrived soaked and unreadable. If you have had this problem, please let Caroline know (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and, if possible, send a photo of the damaged item. Please accept our apologies, the situation is beyond our control once the copies have been mailed. We will be making a formal complaint to the postal service. You will receive a replacement copy of KM.

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IGKT AGM 2021 - Saturday 8th May at 20:00 UTC (21:00 BST)

Because of covid travel restrictions, this meeting will be held via Zoom. Full details have been sent with the March Knotting Matters (No 150) and are available in the the Member News page of this site or the Stop Press section, accessed via the Knotting Matters & Book Reviews on the left of this page. To attend, you will need to book in by Friday April 30th at the latest so that we can send you a link. See you there, we hope.

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For UK residents - important

If you buy things from Amazon, please support the Guild by signing up to the Amazon Smile scheme. This costs you nothing but results in a donation to us by Amazon from every purchase you make with them. It is easy and trouble-free. 😃

Do please sign up - it's so simple with the Amazon Smile banner at the bottom of this page or just click here!

Unfortunately the scheme is restricted to purchases from Amazon UK. 😢

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This piece of brilliant rope magic by Mac King was sent to us recently. We hope you enjoy it.

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Captain George Hart Bursary

Thanks to the generosity of Georg.e, 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.

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PUBLICATIONS GROUP

From time to time, the IGKT produces works of knotting interest that would not normally be expected to be published by a mainstream press because of the specialist nature of the content. They are then made available via the Guild Supplies. To assist with this process, the Guild has established a Publications Group which is a sub-committee of the Executive Committee.

Anyone proposing a new work to the Guild, or offering a work produced by another body for publication by the Guild, should submit the manuscript to the Publications Group (preferably in electronic format) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Group’s Chairman will acknowledge receipt of the submission and give an idea of when the decision will be made.

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On May 3rd 2020 two IGKT members were on BBC Radio 4 in a program called Five Knots -  

or for the program on the the BBC Sounds website click here

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2020 Autumn Meeting  Postponed to 2022 because of the Covid pandemic

The Old Harbour, Mariehamn, Åland Islands, Finland

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The excellent and comprehensive Glossary of Knotting and Ropemaking Terms by Robert Birch, described in Knotting Matters can be found HERE.

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Most meetings and events are shown in the Calendar section - do see if there's one happening near you and come along!

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Het Knoopeknauwertje - The Netherlands Newsletter 1996-2000 (25 issues)

and Knot News 1997-2015 - The journal of the Pacific Americas Branch of IGKT (98 issues)

now available for download in the Free Publications section.

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For all problems regarding membership or logging-in please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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*When first logging-in to the members' area, enter your email address and password which came in the 'welcome' email. If you want to change the password during or after your first log-in, click on  the 'Manage my membership' button at the bottom of the list on the left.*

We have tried to make sure that all the data on the various pages of this site are accurate and up-to-date.  If you find errors or omissions please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will do our best to rectify things quickly.

Please help us by sending advance news of knotting events so that we can publish them and also reports/photos when the events have occurred.

We'll only be able to publicise and carry news if you all help us!

Members please note - a list of email addresses, sorted by country and region is available in the 'Member News' section.  Please check your entry. File updated 202102.

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UK members - if you haven't returned your charity Gift Aid form, please do so. Form is downloadable on the 'News' page.

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