The International Guild of Knot Tyers

The basis of most pioneering projects (but not all of them) is knotting, so like most Scouts, I am interested in tying knots. The International Guild of Knot Tyers was formed in 1982, and it's membership policy states:

"The only qualification for membership of the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) is an interest in knotting, whether it is in practical knot applications, decorative knotting, mathematical knot theory or whatever. You don't have to be an expert - just an enthusiast."

Over the years it's members have helped catalogue and discover new knots, testified in court about the forensics of knots, held meetings, trained Scouts and developed software for drawing knots (more about that later). There is an active online forum here and an extensive list of books written by it's members and available for purchase here.

Membership for an individual is £23.00 per year, but the good news is that membership for youth groups is FREE. Upon joining you receive a DVD with knotting instruction videos, knotting charts and past issues of the Knotting Matters journal. Four copies of Knotting Matters are also published every year. There are regional meetings of the members in many countries.  Head over here to join up, I've found it to be very worthwhile.