The twisted/spiral pattern is made by tying the half knots the same way each time instead of alternating them like you would for the cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet. I used about 5 feet of gutted 550 paracord for the vertical section with the loop, and about 3.5 feet for the horizontal arms of the cross. I left enough slack in the vertical section where I wanted to pull the shorter length through, to finish with tying the arm section. I tied it with the simplest method of making a vertical then a horizontal section, but you could also make it by tying two separate arm sections first, then tie the top and bottom sections by pairing off the strands, or vice versa, starting with top and bottom sections of the cross first. The Swiss Army knife is a Victorinox Ranger. I've added a photo collage for tying the twisted/spiral cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet. You start by finding the center of your length of cord, come down to the length you want, then start tying with the working ends. Left cord under the core strands, over the right cord. Right cord goes under the left, over the core strands and through the left side loop, and tighten it up. Continue the same process again, starting with the left cord under the core.... You do not alternate sides as is done with the cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet. Every two or three knots, make sure the core strands don't get twisted as you go, straighten them out if needed, and push the tied knots up against the previous ones for a tighter spiral. When you have the length you want, you can trim and melt the ends in place, or use hemostats/forceps to pull the working ends through a previous knot or two and then trim the excess.
