diff --git a/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.cpp b/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.cpp
index 9d5aa607ef0afc6eff351d9f35718098848db5e2..6eb9749a1e2e70c41bef629e4738c6495545cd86 100644
--- a/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.cpp
@@ -76,10 +76,15 @@ KnotHolder::~KnotHolder() {
 void
 KnotHolder::clear()
 {
+    if (clearing) { // allow clear again inside entities also
+        return;
+    }
+    clearing = true;
     for (auto & i : entity) {
         delete i;
     }
     entity.clear(); // is this necessary?
+    clearing = false;
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.h b/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.h
index d28da672c50c29a9d3c3f117c23e46fc25a54bdf..82f1dbec18d9e6464654ee0697b2c02ecf470d64 100644
--- a/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.h
+++ b/src/ui/knot/knot-holder.h
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ protected:
     bool local_change; ///< if true, no need to recreate knotholder if repr was changed.
 
     bool dragging;
-
+    bool clearing = false;
     Geom::Affine _edit_transform;
     Inkscape::auto_connection _watch_fill;
     Inkscape::auto_connection _watch_stroke;