It feels like tying things is becoming a lost art. The majority of the first graders in my class don’t know how to tie their shoes, most opting for Velcro or slip-ons as alternatives to the dreaded shoe tying.

Bows on packages are often premade. You can just peel off the paper and stick them directly on the wrapping paper. Maybe I’m showing my age, but tying used to feel like a rite of passage rather than an avoidable annoyance.

We recently sent our grandsons knot tying kits — kind of in the same genre of the Swiss Army knives we got them for their birthdays (and I wrote about here). And I’m wondering if they will take up the challenge of learning to tie a variety of knots. I think the kit includes directions for 23 essential knots. (What knots are essential? And for who?)

Sitting in a beach chair, reading a novel, I heard the horn of a catamaran alerting people to move so they could land on the beach. And probably about 10 yards from me the boat landed on the sand and two young women ran down the stairs, hopped off, each grabbing a long and thick rope that they then looped through a metal ring and tied with confidence. I have no idea what kind of knot it is, but I’m guessing if you work on that catamaran, that knot is essential.

What other professions and hobbies depend on knots? How do we get our children and students interested in these lost arts? How many knots do you know how to tie?