Also been exclusively Ian Knot every since. Lightening fast and consistent.

Funny anecdote: In college when I learned it, the woman I was with was leaving my place and when she was putting on her shoes I said "wait I gotta show you something" and dropped to one knee to tie my shoes. She looked terrified until I clarified it was my tying my shoes quickly and not a proposal.

There's an awesome book Ian put out with laces on the cover and illustrations of all his lacing and knot suggestions. Potential future gift!

Same. I also use Ian's Secure Knot in places where you'd use a double-knot https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

I've tried a couple of these "better" shoe tying knots and have never had the patience to learn them to the point they become habitual. So I can spend 2 seconds tying a shoelace the way I learned when I was 5 years old, or I can spend 5 minutes fumbling with some other knot. I go with what works for me. Optimizing the time I spend tying my shoes just isn't anywhere on the radar of things that would have a worthwhile ROI.

Amongst all of the technological advances available to us, tying my shoes using the Ian Knot is the one thing that will get people to accuse me of witchcraft.

I also learned it back in 2004 and it was one of the single most useful skills I have ever acquired. My shoes never come untied anymore. Coaching baseball, when a kid's shoe comes untied, I re-tie it for them with the Ian knot. Life changing skill.

It always brings a smile to my face when it gets posted. I’ve used it to learn ways of lacing shoes, but it’s not even about that, it’s a reminder of what the internet used to be.

Optimizing things that people do even think about optimizing and showing off the "better way" is completely in the spirit of Hacker News.

That's the reason I am here ;)

A classic never dies.

Sir, do you wear shoes?

> Yes, I know scouts learn knot-tying in general, but a lot of kids don't even get to do scouting

But do knot scouts learn to tie their shoes correctly? I never did scouting but I have done sailing, and was interested in knot tying as a kid, but shoe tying wasn't given much attention. They certainly told us how to tie a reef/square knot properly, but no one looked at our shoes even though half of us did it wrong. In most books, you had the standard shoe tie if you are lucky, but nothing more.

Ian seems to be the only one who takes shoe tying seriously, even though it may be the most tied knot in the world. I have the Ashley Book of Knots, widely considered the reference on knot tying, if a little dated, and shoe tying only occupies a single page out of 600. Interestingly, a knot analogous to the "Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot" is mentioned (#1219) but despite being, I think, the best in the book, its existence is merely acknowledged.

I've been using the secure knot for years now. It's vastly superior to the standard shoelace knot.

I found this to be incredibly helpful for blister prevention. Only downside is your laces have to be pretty long since this takes up a couple more inches on each side.

> I also have to admit that it’s really not the best for small knots or when having to knot with limited lace, mostly due to the required finger setup.

On the other hand, when the length of lace is limited and you need to maintain tension (e.g. wrapping gifts, tying ice skates) the Ian knot is better than many other methods. Although nobody ever asked, I imagine every onlooker is wondering how I can maintain tension in the lace without asking someone else to put a finger on the first overhand knot. It's because of my finger placement when I tie the knot!

I daily drive this knot since my mid thirties. Fast, and practically never comes undone.

If you read his support page it's apparent why not. This is a labor of love which he can still hardly keep afloat after trying a variety of income sources such as ads and direct sponsorships.

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/support.htm

Why Support Ian?

I've devoted two decades of mostly altruistic labors to the niche topic of shoelaces. I spend probably 60 hours a week continuously improving this website, answering visitors' questions, solving their shoelace problems – even granting permission for my material to be re-used by other educators.

All of this effort earns me less than 1/5 of the Australian National Minimum Wage.

I'm thinking of calling this my “Million Dollar Website” – not because it's worth a million dollars but because it has cost me a million dollars compared to what I could have earned at a regular job (based on an average Australian annual wage of $50,000 × 25+ years).

Any support that you can give will be gratefully accepted and warmly appreciated.

It’s a static catalog. Where’s the money in that? We need to activate the analysis of the database of widgets, to know our inventory availability. Great, huh? How about we turn that and see who’s online and then maximize our ordering function to the overstock? Great! Rinse, repeat, profit! Everyone and everything is an asset to be tracked and managed in real time through our gated and ungated websites, apps and assets… Shop-A-Tron!

  Makes your laces sit a bit funny compared to regular

The 'sit a bit funny' issue is the classic symptom of 'the granny knot'.

If you have inadvertently been tying granny knots, you may notice:

1) Instead of the bows hanging to the sides, they naturally want to hang along the length of your show (one pointing diagonally away from you, and the other diagonally towards you).

2) Your shoelaces get undone often, unless you do a double knot.

The fix (whether you tie your bow using the regular way, bunny ears, or Ian Knot) is to reverse the direction of your initial knot.

If you watch this video I made, you will see that the Ian Knot (when done according to the instructions on Ian's site) results in the laces sit just how they should: https://youtu.be/JaBmehtalAY

I never mastered the most common single loop method; it never made sense to me to have an asymmetrical way to tie a symmetrical knot, so I used the bunny ears with two loops, until I learned about the Ian knot with zero loops, and it's a very easy and quick way to tie your shoes.

The resulting knot is the same with all of them, however. Either the regular knot or the granny knot, depending on how you do them.

The end result is the same as the regular way of tying it. perhaps you are doing a https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/crossedianknot.htm by mistake

So are your guides, by the way. Thank you for writing them.

I've made a couple with the Kumihimo technique, using cheap embroidery thread. The texture is similar to paracord, but you get your own pick of colors and patterns. I'm surprised at how durable they are.

I was fascinated by this website when I was a teenager about 17 years ago. Finding out about the Ian Knot was a "wow" moment. I've used it ever since!

I remember downloading the iOS app on my iPod Touch and being able to create your own lace pattern by dragging your fingers. Incredible stuff!

I'm very happy that the website is still up and running, preserving the same aesthetic as it had years ago.

I started using the Berluti knot last year, and it has never failed me. It takes a bit longer to tie, but it has never failed me. It is also easy to get undone without making another knot out of itself.

The Secure variant seems to be a slightly easier/quicker knot. I might give it a try. :)

If you prefer a non-disposable shoe, look into Chelsea boots made using a Goodyear welt, such as from one of the many shoemakers in the Northampton area of England. A pair if taken care of will last you a lifetime.

I use the fast normal knot for shoes I am going to tie/untie a lot and the secure knot for everything else.

Quirky or whimsical content has always been welcome on HN.