Sash cord has become increasingly hard to find in recent years, as the windows it was designed to rig have been mostly replaced by more energy-efficient ones. It is still available from some theatrical suppliers. Newer versions of this same basic type of line, but made from synthetic materials, are readily available from local hard- ware stores. They come in various sizes, but 3/8 is frequently the most useful, and can be used to rig a traveler track. Twisted lines don't work at all well on a traveler, because the twist tends to kink up at the pulleys. More information about ropes, aircraft cable, and chains can be found in Chapter 14. ally the most-often-used knot in theatre, because it is used to hang drops and curtains. Drapes are tradition- ally manufactured with a tie every 12 inches, so a 40-foot-long border has 41 knots to tie. Multiply this number by however many curtains are in a show, and the importance of the bow knot becomes clear. The bow contains the same basic building blocks that are used in all knots. It is essentially a square knot in which the two tails are doubled over before making the final half hitch. Pulling on the very end of the tails slides the two loops back through the knot and the bow is untied. If you can visualize that process, it will make it much easier for you to understand more complex knots. K NOTS You should learn some basic terms used in tying knots in order to better understand the descriptions in this chapter. The free end of a line is called the tail. It is the part that you actually manipulate to tie the knot. The standing part is the long length of a rope that may be formed into a coil, or be tied to the grid, or laid out in some other fashion. It is important to visualize which is which, especially if you are using a short length of cord to learn how to tie the knots in this chapter. Most knots begin with a loop of some sort, which is a rounded turn of the line. To double-over means to