Craft:Rope making

Rope is made from twisted fibres, much like thread and string. Rope can be made of straw which makes a weak rope generally used to tie down thatch temporarily, cotton which is pleasant to handle but not long lasting enough or water resistant enough for large ships, and hemp which makes a strong durable rope used on all large ships. Rope is sometimes made of leather strips or grass in less civilised areas such as Aduria.
To make rope one first makes yarn, threads are spun together to make long threads of yarn. Three or four threads of yarn are then used to make the rope, the secret to the strength of the rope being to ensure that the direction of the thread of the yard opposes the direction of the thread of the rope so that twisting the rope tightens either rope or its constituent yarns, that tightening then preventing the opposing thread from untwisting.
Rope making requires a top which holds each strand of yarn in place just before the rope, a rope jack which has a number of hooks (one per piece of yarn) which revolve independently but in the same direction and at the same speed. The third tool required is a traveller which is a swivelling hook fixed to a sled or trolley.
The yarn is looped around the traveller hook and the jack hooks with the top placed near to the traveller. The jack is then turned twisting the yarn tightly into strands pulling the traveller towards the jack. When the strands are almost kinking under the torque the traveller is stopped in place and the top is pushed towards the jack, the tension of the yarn twisting the strands into rope behind it.