Context
I'm trying to learn about knot theory so that I can use it to systematically solve a disentanglement puzzle I own.
I have learned about how to model knots in a braid diagram, how to write that braid diagram as an equation and also of the operations that can be performed on such equations.
Problem
The problem I am faced with is that I do not know how to translate the real life object into a drawing of a knot or link, because the shape seems to split into two at some point, and then rejoins itself later.
Here's an illustration of the steps I would like to perform, with a simplified example of the object in question and how I interpret its shape:
I'm thinking that maybe there is some way to get a similar situation by modeling the splitting knot as 2 linked knots, but when I do that I'm pretty sure I removed a restriction from the situation. Here's what I tried:
Is it possible to express a shape like this as a knot or link? If so, how would I go about doing that in simple steps? Please bear in mind that I'm new to knot theory and not familiar with most of the lingo, so an answer in simple terms or with images would help me the most.