A Simple Pineapple Interweave

Two simple turksheads with an equal number of bights can be interwoven into a knot of of an over two-under two or two pass coding. (Actually three or more may be done but we will stay with two to explain the methods.) I hope you will take the time to study this material for some insight into the braid structure involved but there is a way to do this that makes it almost automatic. This is explained in the second "look" at the knot below.

A Simple Pineapple Knot

The simple definition of a pineapple knot is a herringbone interweave with nested bights. To achieve this in a pleasing manner we will interweave two odd part knots with an equal number of bights and differing in parts by two to make the bights nest. When done in two colors (one for each knot) it produces alternating color bands around the circumference of the knot. This symetrical color pattern is one of the reasons for using a pineapple knot. Another is the tendency of the oughter bights to close somewhat at the ends. The only two requirements are that the secondary knot be two parts shorter than the primary and they neither violate the commom divisor rule and therefor can be braided. The method I am going to examine here will work with any two knots that fit this discription. For this pineapple we will lay the parallel pairs with the new lead in the secondary knot to the right of the primary knot. That means we will parallel the lead to the left of the running end.

We begin here with a 9 X 5 fonndation in blue. This requires that our secondary knot be a 7 X 5 knot. I will start by placing two wraps of the secondaty knot with the first being red and the seond green as usual. The running end of the interweave starts at lower pin 1 and passes under two parts. Since we will nest the bights inside the secondary knot will complete just above the first of these parts. At this point we are strictly adjacent to the part in the primary knot that is to our left in path and crossings of other parts. We will continue this paralleling the old lead to the left throughout this knot. Now proceed in an orderly over-one under- one sequence till we arrive at the two crossed parts directly below upper pin 4. We cross under both of these to form a nested bight and start back down. Remember that the second wrap in green is not there yet and is to be ignored. The parallel pairs are marked with black lines for later reference. A hint, any time you can see two adjacent parts crossing another part in the same way , both over or both under, they are the parallel pairs we are using. Now proceed down till till we come to the new (red) lead between two old (BLUE) leads above lower pin 2. Now pass under the first blue and the red lead and then over the second blue lead. This splits the parallel pair we laid down and maintains our parallel status with the old lead to the left. Another hint, any time you split a pair it will involve an under two or over two sequence on one or both sides of the split as this is the coding of our final knot. Now on down to the crossed pair which we go under to nest the bight just above lower pin 3. Now our running end turns green so we can follow it, and starts back up the knot for the first half of the second wrap of the interweave. Again over-under-over till we approach another parallel pair where we go under two and over one for the proper split. Then under the cross below upper pin 1 to nest the bight. The sefcond half of the second wrap splits two parallel pairs on the way back down in the same manner to arrive at the cross above lower pin 5 to nest another bight.

The third wrap crosses under the X above lower pin 5 nd goes up to upper pin 3, splitting two pairs with an under-2 over-1 sequence on the way. As we leave this point going down we encounter another pair to split. Thus we go under the X and one more lead in the secondary knot. This has been described by others as under three X, but it really is under one in the upward direction and then under two going down. In fact thesecrossings under the X below the bights in the primary knot will pull down behind them and not be visible when the knot is properly tightened, but you need to see them in the templates and when braiding the knot to realize the true structure of the knot. Notice that this split is actually an under-two over-one sequence. Then on down with an uner-2 over-1 for another split. now under-2 over-2 under-1 to split two more pairs and start under the X at lower pin 2.

The template on the left is the fourth wrap placed according to the basic principles as before and the last wrap will follow the same method to complete the knot. The complete knot is on the right. Bear in mind that when the knot is tightened the little red "tips" of the secondary bights will pull down behind the X's where they are nested and won't be visible. You might notice that the coding pattern of this knot is under-2 over-2 etc. until the last pass under at the end of each half wrap in both directions where it is under-1.

Another Look at the Simple Pineapple

The method I gave in the previous section is what I use because I prefer an intuitive process of visual inspection of the point in the braid structure of each step. The only thing I ever count is the pins for the bight increment of the first wrap of a turkshead foundation or a simple single pass knot. If you are into counting part crossings you may like this interweave method. The trick here is to count the "empty" spaces as if they are a part. The actual braid structure is the same with either method. In fact it is not another method but a different way of thinking about the same method.

An 11P X 7B Primary knot with an 9P X 7B Interweave

The template on the left above is the 11P X 7B foundation knot done on a mandrel large enough in diameter to allow an open structure with space for the interweave between its parts. The vacant spaces between the parts of this knot will be filled by parts of the secondary knot as we braid the interweave. In the second template after we make the initial under-1 pass to enter the foundation from the outside (at the arrow) to the place where we nest the bights we can begin a sequence of under-2 over-2 etc. till we arrive at the top with an over-2 and then a final under-1 to just under pin upper 5. where another under-2 back down will nest the bight here. Remember to count the empty spaces. The same sequence will go back to the bottom of the knot in the same manner. Every half wrap will follow this same sequence across the knot if you remember to count the empty spaces in the sequence as an under or over as needed to complete the under-2 and over-2 portions. What we are doing here is braiding the actual coding of the two pass structure as we go by using the empty spaces in our count. In the right hand template you can see some of the vacant spaces being filled in in the proper way to complete the two pass coding. So long as you maintain the count sequence this happens automatically. Just be sure to remember that last under-1 at the end of esch half wrap. Also notice that we are maintaining the parallel status between the new runnung end and the part of the primary knot to its left as before and splitting the parallel pairs in the proper way.

The three templates above will let you observe this for wraps three, four, and five as the empty spaces fill up as we braid.

These last three show this knot carried to completion wrap by wrap. Notice the orderly sequence of two part segments in the sevevth wrap

A Four Bight Pineapple

7 part pineapple third wrap last wrap finished

Two things about this example. First notice that I started it on the other side of the Primary standing end. In fact because of the symetry of a turkshead it makes no difference where you start the interweave. Secondly I can now show the final tuck-up that really finishes any braided knot. ( Also note the two color bands as a result of using a seven part foundation. )

You can braid both of these knots and a lot of others by following this basic process. The keys are the proper selection of the foundation knot as explained in the first pineapple method and the under two over two sequences with the final under one across the knot. Notice that in the seven part foundation for the four bight knot just above that there are only two under-2 over-2 steps and then the under-1 to nest the bights. For a nine part foundation there would be three sets etc. This basic patern for each half wrap across the knot from either direction works for all the possible pneapples based on a simple turkshead foundation of either coding, conventional or sobre.