The Complete Book of Chinese Knotting. Lydia Chen

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      Cloverleaf knot with four outer loops wrapped and pulled.

      Cloverleaf knot with four outer loops. The outer loop is wrapped forward.

      Cloverleaf knot with four outer loops. The outer loops are pulled and wrapped forward.

      Cloverleaf knot with four outer loops. The outer loop is wrapped, pulled and wrapped forward.

      4. Overlapping the Ear Loops

      A good luck knot is made by overlapping the ear loops clockwise or anticlockwise. The more ear loops involved, the bigger the hole in the center of the knot body. To rectify this, two ear loops can be overlapped after every two, three or more interspacing loops. In this way, the hole will shrink and the knot body thicken.

      Wall decoration made from a good luck knot in which two outer loops were overlapped after every two interspacing loops.

      Good luck knot with four outer loops.

      Good luck knot with six outer loops. The two outer loops are overlapped after every two interspacing loops.

      The first layer of ear loops in this good luck knot are overlapped in the usual way. However, for the second layer, the outer loops are overlapped after every one, two or three outer loops to produce compound outer loops, giving the knot the name good luck knot with compound loops.

      Brooch made from a good luck knot with four compound loops.

      Good luck knot with four compound loops.

      Good luck knot with four outer loops.

      The first layer of ear loops in this good luck knot are overlapped in the usual way. Before overlapping the outer loops in the second layer, the side loops around the knot body are lengthened and overlapped to form new basic knots. Slightly different new knots can be devised by varying the direction of the lengthening process, the face from which the side loops are lengthened and the direction of the overlap.

      Brooches made from good luck knots with overlapped side loops.