[pmahoney]

Not sure if this would help, and I'm not exactly sure I'm understanding you correctly, but when I tie hockey stakes, instead of a single "left-over-right starting knot" (using terminology from the post), I wrap around two or even three times. This provides enough friction for that first knot to stay put while I tie the loops of the standard shoelace knot (not the Ian knot, with which I'm unfamiliar).

[BoiledCabbage]

Sounds like you do something similar to the surgeon's knot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgeon%27s_knot