A Knot a Day: 365 knot challenges for all abilities by Nic Compton.
2020, Adlard Coles. 368 pp. £16.99
Given that we may be enjoying our own company for longer than desired, this book would be a useful aid to counter boredom for non-knotters. It could also be of interest to those of us who are curious about how knots are explained. In this respect I feel it did very well within the limits of a page a day, sometimes two pages. The numbering of the illustrations was not always as I was expecting.
At almost 200mm square and 35mm thick it is not pocket-size but it does attempt to cover many uses of knots in various categories, Indoor, Outdoor, Fashion, Magic, Craft, Decoration and General.
This shows that the book covers a wide range of knots and their uses although I did have difficulty in following some of the pictures. On the whole, it is well illustrated, but the choice of colour for the neckties and shoe laces made following the words carefully to be even more important.
There is a little ‘cheating’ when some knots shown on one day then crop up later in their application, each one thus filling two of the 365 days.
The author also wrote the Knot Bible, mentioning IGKT and giving credit to Ken Yalden and Colin Byfleet for their help in tying some of the studio knots.
The book would make a useful present to a youngster or someone with only rudimentary knowledge of knots and might just encourage them to learn more.
RH