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The Finished Rosary to be used with a Religious Habit

Knotted Rosary for a Religious Habit

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So this Knotted Rosary is like the ones I did before, only larger. I used four cords instead of two, treating each pair of black and white as one. Doing so made it much bigger. Large enough that it is the right size for a monk to wear on the side of a religious habit.

The Process

I used about 40m of cord for this, meaning each strand is about 10m long. Before I started, I tied a knot measuring how long the cord was before and after to decide how much to use. It turned out it was about 10cm, so needing to tie about 70 knots plus the sections between meant just over 8m for each strand. Rounded up to play it safe, but at the end of the project, I can say 8m would have been perfect.

With the cord cut, I tied it in the middle with another scrap of cord (you can see the red cord in some of the photos below) and started weaving the first section. I used what on YouTube I saw called a “four-strand round braid”. I got a lot better at this as I went. You can see in the photo where it shows the rosary being joined in a loop. One section is significantly better than another. To do the braid is easy. First, arrange the cords black-white-black-white and then start swapping the position of the two black, then the two white, and repeating.

The Knots

The knots were a pain, and I probably will never repeat this, even though I was happy with the result. I had to wrap the cords up because 40m cord loves to get into knots. This meant I had to push these cord reels through the knot loops as I was tying them, which was tricky and messy. It was challenging to do unless I was sitting at my desk.

Also, the knots did not look good if I let the two cords I was treating as one get wrapped around each other inside the knot, so I spent a lot of time straightening them out as I tightened the knots. Another difficulty was my use of four strands that kept trying to wrap around each other unless I kept them in position on the desk as I was working. It was often just more frustrating than enjoyable.

Finished Result and Photos

So very happy with what I got, but this will be a one-off. Not the last of the Rosaries that I plan to share here. I got four pairs I want to make from beads and chains and a few others using much more straightforward knots with beads.

Wearing the Rosary
Wearing the Rosary
The Finished Rosary to be used with a Religious Habit
The Finished Rosary to be used with a Religious Habit
The Cross partly made
The Cross partly made
A good look a the section of woven cord between a decade. The separate six knots are to be used to make a cross.
A good look a the section of woven cord between a decade. The separate six knots are to be used to make a cross.
Rosary joined into a loop
Rosary joined into a loop
About to join the rosary into a loop
About to join the rosary into a loop
The knots are about 1cm each
The knots are about 1cm each
Weaving the cords together between the decades
Weaving the cords together between the decades
A completed decade.
A completed decade.
The reels of cord along with a partly tied knot
The reels of cord, along with a partly tied knot
Knoted Rosaries

Special Knotted Rosaries

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This is my first post on a new WordPress site. I was posting a little on Facebook, but I have been trying to avoid social media. So if I set things up correctly, it should also be automatically shared there.

This image is of some Knotted Rosaries that I made. They are using a knot called “Chotki.”

If anyone is interested in trying to make your own, the video I initially followed to learn how to tie these knots was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lTwPCgwj4c&t=110s.

History

There is a fascinating history and facts about those knots typically used in prayer ropes, which I used for these rosaries.

St. Pachomius, in the fourth century, is believed to be the inventor of the prayer rope. They were an aid for illiterate monks to accomplish a consistent number of prayers and prostrations in their cells. Prevcounteds would count their prayers by casting pebbles into a bowl, but this was cumbersome and could not be easily cd about when outside the cell. The rope made it possible to pray the Jesus Prayer unceasingly: “O My Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner”, whether inside the monk’s cell or outside. Following St. Paul’s injunction to “Pray without Ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), the monks prayed this way.

It is said that the method of tying the prayer rope originated from the father of Orthodox monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great. He started by tying a leather rope with a simple knot for every time he prayed “Kyrie Eleison” (“Lord have Mercy”). Annoyingly the Devil would come and untie the knots to throw off his count. He then devised the way – inspired by a vision of the Virgin Mary Theotokos – of tying the knot so that the knots themselves would constantly make the sign of the Cross. Today prayer ropes are still tied using knots containing seven little crosses tied over and over. The devil could not untie it because the Sign of the Cross defeats the devil.

Bracelets

Since it would be a shame to waste any off-cuts of cord, I have been turning those into rosary bracelets. Not that it costs much from where I have been getting it, which is here https://www.koch.com.au/satin-cord