Chinuch Method
This method defines a chulyah as a group of three twists. It has 13 chulyot, and alternates white and Tekhelet between them, starting and ending with a chulyah of white. Those chulyot are distributed between five (double) knots with three chulyot between the top four knots and four chulyot between the fourth and last knot.
Sefer Hachinuch Mitzvah 386
How can the tzitzit be made, the four strings are passed through the wing of the garment, which are the eight heads of strings when they hang from the wing, and they are not hung too close to the garment’s rim and not far away, but close to the size from the head to the first chapter, as Rabbi Yaakov in the name of Rabbi Yohanan said in the Gemara “A], and should be removed the size of a whole knot . And makes one of them large to tie the others with it, and tie them in five places a double knot, and between each 2 knots makes three links, and before the last knot makes four links, so that between all the knots there are 13 links
‘ספר החינוך מצווה שפו
כיצד עושין הציצית, מעבירין ארבעה חוטין בכנף הבגד, שהן שמונה ראשי חוטין כשהן תלויין בכנף, ואין תולה אותן סמוך ממש לשפת הבגד ולא רחוק, אלא סמוך כשיעור גודל מראשו עד הפרק ראשון, כדאמר רבי יעקב אמר רבי יוחנן בגמרא [שם מ”ב ע”א], וצריך להרחיק כמלוא קשר גודל. ועושה אחד מהן גדול כדי שיכרוך בו האחרים, וקושרן בחמשה מקומות קשר כפול, ובין קשר וקשר עושה שלש חוליות ובאמצעות הקשר האחרון עושה ארבע חוליות, שנמצאו בין כולן י”ג חוליות.
- A “Single Knot” is made by taking the four strands from one side of the garment and the opposing four strands from the other side of the garment and tying a simple knot.
- A white “Chulya” is made by taking one white strand from the total of eight strands and wrapping it around the remaining seven strands three times. This “wrapping” strand is designated “Shamash” and is used for all subsequent white chulyot (though it is not halachically imperative that the same Shamash be used).
- A blue “Chulya” is made the same as a white one, but just using a blue strand.