If tying a knot leaves you tied in knots, play with the following pages — and a piece of string.

The following knots should cover most situations you might find yourself in — in a regular, household sort of way — from tying a taut new line onto the revolving clothesline, to tying the dog to a rail outside the ice cream shop, holding the shower head on while awaiting a plumber or spare parts, wrapping a birthday parcel, pulling a rope up tight on a trailer-load of refuse or helping to reposition a heavy pot plant using a rope tied to the car’s tow bar.

Be aware, though, that the knots discussed here aren’t suitable for life-saving rescue situations or heavy applications! If you want to abseil through the trees or lower a fridge over your verandah rail please get advice from suitable professionals.

Knots for tying packets or bandages

Reef knot

Right over left and under,  left over right and under.

A reliable and versatile knot that ties easily and that won’t slip or jam. Ideal for tying bandages and slings because the ends of the bandage fall in the same direction as the bandage. Useful for a tidy, flat and immaculate parcel wrap.

Granny knot

Left over right and under, left over right and under.

This knot will slip under tension and isn’t reliable. It’ll jam and is thoroughly annoying because it refuses to untie. It should never have been named after my Granny. Neither will it lie flat when pulled tight. For this reason, however, it can be useful for tying fancy ties on birthday parcels, where the fluffy, sticky-out look is paramount.

Bow knot or shoelace knot

The one we all learnt to tie as a child. Useful for shoelaces and fancy parcel-wrapping. The rope or string must remain under tension to keep this knot stable.

It can be made more secure by tying the bow more than once.

Knots for attaching a rope to something

Half hitch

This is a very useful knot for carrying light loads that have to be removed easily, for example hanging fruit in a bag out of reach of mice, or tying a docile chihuahua to a rail at the dairy. No good for tying up a ferry though.

Double half hitch

As the name suggests, this is a much more secure knot. It’ll slip, however, if you don’t hold the short end as you tighten it. It’s ideal for tying a Christmas tree to your car roof rack, a tarpaulin to a fruit tree for your garden party, a new line on your clothesline or for tying off a rope on a loaded trailer. Works best on a horizontal rail.

If the tarpaulin you’re attaching is flapping uncontrollably in the wind, do another full circle around the rail or tree branch first before you create the double half hitch. This way you can pull the tarp up tight to control it before you tie the knot. The knot you have now created is a ‘full turn and double half hitch’.

Lanyard or cow hitch

A secure knot, quick and easy to tie and untie. Ideal for securing a Great Dane to a bench in a park full of poodles. This knot will work well on a vertical post or horizontal rail.

Clove hitch

This knot is designed for quick attachment on a vertical pole. It is an ideal knot for setting up a low hammock as it is easily adjusted — but BEWARE, it will hold only if there is strain on it. Once the strain is taken off, the knot must be checked and retightened to prevent it pulling undone.

To prevent slippage while you’re setting up the hammock, leave the short end longer. Then, once the suitable height and rope lengths for your hammock are established, create a double half hitch on the main line next to the clove hitch to strengthen the attachment.

A clove hitch is also useful if you need to secure the middle of a rope under load, as it can be loaded from both ends (for example if you have one rope and want to hang two bags of food up out of reach of rats and possums at your camp site).

Loop knots

These knots provide a loop in a rope through which the other end of the rope, or another rope, can be passed, either to create an adjustable lasso-type attachment or to pull a rope up tight before tying it off.

Bowline

The bowline knot is often called the King of Knots — we’ll call it the Queen of Knots — because it’s very stable and will not slip. It is one of the simplest ways of putting a fixed loop in the end of a rope for situations where strength is needed (such as on the end of a tow rope), or simply as a starter loop for tying up a big parcel.

Running bowline

A bowline made into a noose or lasso. Ideal for attaching a tow rope to your car’s tow bar. The bowline knot remains strong but the lasso (running bowline) will undo easily after use.

Overhand loop

This creates a loop in the middle of a rope. Useful when pulling a load down tight.

When tying off a trailer load, create the overhand loop in the rope a metre or so away from the trailer rail or hook, pass the end under the trailer rail or hook and back up and through the overhand loop. Pull tight to make the rope taut then secure the rope end (using a double half hitch).

Pull down tight and tie off with a double half hitch. See ‘Loading a trailer’ in ‘Towing and reversing a car trailer’ in the Conents List of this website.

  Stop knots

Knots used to tie off the end of a rope to prevent the rope fraying or to stop a knot from passing through a hole. 

Overhand knot

Figure 8 knot

This creates a larger knot than the overhand knot.

 
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