I know you are not to much into texturing but for me this would be the way to go, I would create the shape of the rope with a nurb circle (by using a nurb circle it will UV it as it goes) then convert to polys, then use the texture (I made in maya and photoshop)for the rope you will need to adjust the texture for your needs like rotate and cut back, Rick Im sure will show you how to model with a nobbly circle and a curve............dave