What Technique Do You Use To Lace Your Shoes?

United States
March 18, 2007 4:08pm CST
I remember when our children were small and we was teaching them to tie their shoes. I did not think we were ever going to get them to learn how to do it properly. They seemed tie the string onto their finger more than the shoe. They would let go and the string would still be untied. LOL My Daughter is beginning to teach my granddaughter to tie her shoe. She called and ask how we ever taught them to tie a shoe. She said it is hard. I just laughed. The joys of being a grandparent. Well I remembered having a site bookmarked with techniques to lace a shoe. I went to my bookmarks and sure enough I found it. I pulled up the site and I could not believe my eyes. There are 31 ways to lace a shoe. Can you believe that? Some are easy to tie and some are difficult. Each of the 31 ways have diagrams with them so you can see what they look like. After looking at all of them, I come to the conclusion that It may just be better to purchase Velcro shoes and zip up boots. It is a very interesting site. It has instructions for the lacing up on the side menu. You will also find the lacing methods for lugs and the Help section along the side. The Help section helps you deal with things like uneven laces, slipping laces and crooked shoelaces. You can also take the shoelace poll and read the shoelace FAQs section. I posted a simalar article on gather and received some very interesting comments. Seems there are many peopole who use several of these techniques to lace their shoes. If you’re big into mathematics, you’ll want to check out the "2 Trillion" section near the top, which goes into the fact that probability shows there are two trillion different methods of feeding a lace through a shoe eyelet. Can you believe that? Check out this site here. http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm Which technique do you use to lace your shoe?
3 people like this
14 responses
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I have no idea, but my son had low muscle tone and fine motor skills problems. We were told he needed to tie his shoes in his pre-k screening. We had to see the Occupational therapist who gave me sheets full of drawings and poems and everything else He couldn't. Well I tried teaching him every which way I could. He did not care, he tried, he got frustrated and wanted nothing to do with it. Velcro sneakers were big back then. Then one day it happened, it was so easy. Nothing had worked, not rabbits or trees, unders or overs or bunny ears...but sorry buddy, I can't right now. I am busy. )I had bought him roller blades.) I will be able to tie your roller blades in about 15 minutes. He could not wait, he tried and tied. Forget 31 ways or 2 trillion ways, get the kid roller blades.
1 person likes this
• Canada
19 Mar 07
I use criss cross lacing for my shoes, but I'm going to bookmark the site and try some of the others out for sure! I've used some of the others before though, specially when I was in high school. It was considered "trendy" to have the latest technique in lacing shoes. Of course I've gotten older now, and more "past" that, although some of these will definitely come in handy for the new hiking boots I plan on wearing before my hike in the summer.
• United States
19 Mar 07
I love that site. My kids always wanted to try to lace their shoes in different ways, but I was unable to do anything more than the usual criss cross method. Now I can help my grandkids choose a "neat and nifty" way to lace their shoes.
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
19 Mar 07
Mine is alot like the Roman lacing. I keep the pressure off the bones on top of my foot for better comfort since I am very active and on my feet alot. I will put this in my favorites also. The site owner says there is more to come with our patience and it will take time due to coding etc. Thanks for sharing this.
1 person likes this
@tinam13 (839)
• United States
19 Mar 07
i dont really even tie my shoes anymore, i just tuck them in or i just slip them on, but when i do put them on i use the "bunny" way or whatever. i dont even pay attention half the time.
1 person likes this
• United States
19 Mar 07
Never realized there were so many ways... or that anyone ever looked into it. I guess it's just one of those daily things we do that we take for granted!
1 person likes this
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
18 Mar 07
That is too funny, to have so many different ways to tie your shoes. I am right handed, a few years ago I had my right hand, wrist and arm injured. I had no use of it for months. I learned how to tie my shoes with my left hand. I can still do it. Using 2 hands is so much easier.
1 person likes this
@pookie92 (1714)
• United States
18 Mar 07
wow, I didn't know that there were that many different ways to tie a shoe. We always used the old "rabbit going down the rabbit hole, and pull the ears" technique. My middle child refused to learn that way so we just had her tie the loops together, that works too but they tend to come untied easier.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157050)
• United States
18 Mar 07
I like odd trivia, so I bookmarked the site. It appears my shoes are currently laced crisscross. I think some of the patterns look beautiful, and would be practical. I think I will share this one with hubby. I really want a method that will not come untied, but other than double knots, I know that is wishful thinking.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
19 Mar 07
I didn't learn how to tie my shoes until I was about 10 years old. I was always all fingers and thumbs. I can't tie the way your grandchildren are learning, I learned to tie the shoe first then over and under if that makes sense to you.
1 person likes this
@AskAlly (3625)
• Canada
18 Mar 07
And I thought there were only 2 ways. They "bunny ears" and the "round the loop". I will have to educate myself better before I become a gramma.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
19 Mar 07
Lol, I don't think so complicated. I just do a butterfly knot - you know.. that very simple one.. and then another butterfly knot, and that's it! ;-)
1 person likes this
• Brazil
19 Mar 07
Very crazy!!!
@bowtieguy (5915)
• United States
23 Jul 07
I do the bunny ears and them loop them together, but I like to leave mine tied so I can just slip them on and off.