The reverse comes first, after completing the first crown, flip your knot over. Then extend your corners. Finally, crown the corners, and split the opposite loop.

小耳翼疊壓吉祥結C型 little ear wing fold pressure lucky/auspicious knot C type/build/model

Happy moo year! It’s the year of the Earth Ox (a couple of years ago, we had to explain to our Chinese teacher why it was not the year of the “cow” or for that matter “sheep” (vs “goat”), “bunny” (vs “rabbit” or “hare”), “mouse” (vs “rat”), or “chicken” (vs “rooster”). 8)

In the book as a variation, so I tied it, the 4-flower inset ears could be any knot. Simply tie 3 in your cord and then lay out your good luck knot with the knots at the end of the cross shape and tie as as you would the good luck with inset ear. Ms. Chen stops there, but why would you want to do that? When done, your cord ends hang in the 4th side ear. So, tie another flower (or whatever you’ve decided to put in your ears 8).

I have this vague recollection that Lydia Chen hadn’t really named the variants in her Chinese Knotting 3 book, they were more like “variant A” and “variant B”. Whether numbered or named with poetry, I just wanted to see what she was naming things and check if it was different in the English version, but where was my book? Not on the shelf where it’s supposed to be with one and two. Not in the bedroom where I might have piled it upon unpacking from the last trip. Not in the living room, not here, not there, still not here, etc. I must have wasted most of a day looking without success.