Guest Post: Know Your Knots

Pater sends this dispatch from Dallas.

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My command and celebration of all three tie knots adds pleasure and poise to my life. The half-Windsor is my workhorse: symmetrical, not overly large. It requires only that I buy ties with a bit more length. Not a bad idea anyway, considering my 17 inch neck.

Longer ties also allow me, occasionally, to adorn one of my spread-collar shirts with a full Windsor, worthy of the collar. Those are special days.

But the real jewel of my clothing Nile is the four-in-hand, your standard, judging by the photos you post. For decades, before longer ties became so available, I tied a four-in-hand every day to economize on valuable longitude: my ties still had a long way to go around my big neck. I hated the lack of symmetry, pushed back on it every morning in the mirror.

Now that I am a three-knot-guy, the four-in-hand is a total celebration. It's my Friday-is-here knot. If I go out on Thursday evening, I am a four-in-hand Friday Sooner. A little out-of-square, the four-in-hand says to the world, it's Friday (Saturday maybe), I got your casual.