In Adobe Illustrator 7, outlining and dividing a path can lead to annoying artifacts creating knot work. Mending the problem is simple.
Problem with Corners
When your knots have corners (rounded, beveled, or square) Illustrator's Object > Path > Outline Path command doesn't produce what you might expect. Let's look at each of the cases. Here are the original corners you want to outline.
Apply Object > Path > Outline Path. You will see little triangles at the interiors of the corners. Instead of a single control point where the border changes direction we are left with triangles.
If the path outlined didn't cross itself, then getting rid of these artifacts is simple. Choose the outlined path, apply Object > Pathfinder > Divide. Then immediately apply Object > Pathfinder > Unite. This first separates the artifacts into separate objects and then unites them with the main line.
If your path crosses itself, which is common in knot work, more work needs to be done.
Apply Object > Pathfinder > Divide and then Object > Ungroup. You now have two separate pieces that are both selected. If you're careful, you can select just the interior triangles. Here's what they look like, with colors reversed for clarity:
Choose a corner artifact and the surrounding line, unite, and repeat. You might need to do a select-drag to get all the pieces you need. If you get pieces you don't want, shift-click to deselect them.
Here, I have united the middle corner.
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