DIY Monkey Paw Dog Toy
Rope: At least 10.5 feet of 3/8" diamond braid rope -- about 4.5' for the monkey fist knot and 3 feet (X2) for the braid on each end. It's better to start with a much longer piece of rope, tie/position the monkey fist knot, and then trim off the long side. Also, forming the monkey first takes more rope (~6'), which is then tightened down to 4.5'.
Scissors or a sharp knife to cut the rope (Be carefull!)
Lighter to melt the rope ends, to prevent fraying.
STEP 2.
A monkey fist knot is basically three (or more) turns of rope, three more turns around the first three, and a final set of three more turns locking them all together.
Two good sites (with pictures) of how to make a monkey first knot are: http://animatedknots.com/monkeysfist/ and http://www.igkt.net/beginners/monkeys-fist.php
Start about 10 feet from the end of the rope -- this'll give you about 6' for forming the knot + 3' for the end braid + 1' for tightening...
The initial knot has to be pretty loose, otherwise you'll never be able to feed the last three loops through the knot.
To tighten the knot, start with the rope at one end of the knot. Almost as if you were trying to untie the knot, push/pull the rope into the knot, creating a loop. Following the path of the rope, push/pull the loop through the entire knot, pulling the loops tighter as you go.
Cut/trim the rope as needed to end up with a monkey-fist knot in the middle of two 3' ends of rope.
STEP 3.
I like to remove some of the rope core before fusing the ends of the rope. Pull the braided covering back from the end, exposing the core. Cut off an inch or so of the core. Pull the braided covering back over the end of the core. Use the lighter to fuse the covering together.
STEP 4.
STEP 5.
Make a braid knot on the other end of the rope, and you're done!