Mine is the Highwayman's Hitch

http://www.thepirateking.com/knots/knot_hitch_highwaymans.htm

I use the Truckers Hitch a lot too

http://www.animatedknots.com/truckers/index.php

Ooooh – tricky one McM….

Lots of contenders: Good old figure-of-8 is pretty versatile, double-fishermans, alpine butterfly, bowline all good. Then there is the inevitable Gordian knot which usually results in trying to uncoil a climbing rope, but for sheer simplicity and beauty it's got to be a CLOVE HITCH.

So many uses!

Half blood/clinch knot, Grinner Knot, & a Bimini Twist.

clove!

Stuartie

There is a nice one for making a rope ladder, I dont know what its called.

granny knot of course the tighter the more twisted the better!!!

especially after a long drive and trying to untie a load in the pouring rain

got to be a rolling hitch.

good for guy ropes, innit. 🙂

a well executed double grinner

secure double bow for shoes:

A bowline, for sure! Almost as strong as a spliced loop, but tied in a matter of seconds. And that whole 'rabbit comes up the hole, round the tree' etc etc is the stuff of legends and nursery rhymes! One to pass along the generations…

Nick

The slip variety.

Planning on using it on folk that get out of hand with photoshop.

Gordian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot

reef,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,simples

Its got to be the figure of eight (or nine). Excellent and easy for tying loads down on the trailer!

another vote for bowline.

another vote for bowline, I can still do it with my eyes closed.

before transalp this year i learnt a few in order to set the tarp up, but i've forgotten the names. something hitch and another one.

also know a few from my fishing days, but there isn't much call day-to-day for tieing hooks onto lines. shame.

it's a nice feeling when you tie a good knot.

GOrdian.

Balloon knot…

Clove hitch aswell, quick, simple, easy to adjust and you can pull the weight of a ski boat and trailer out of the water and then easily undo the knot with your fingers.

I also like the autoblock, again for it's simplicity (on left)

Calidris canuta

closely followed by the monkey's fist. A very underated but extremely useful knot

Slipknot!!

Hangmans?

Another for bowline.
Is it the only knot you can tie one handed?

Although I do love a good reef knot.

Or what about a Sheepshank

Video: http://www.ehow.com/video_2355283_tie-sheep-shank-knot.html

+1 for the bowline and its cousin the sheet bend

double fisherman's knot

Bowline good but weakens the rope too much (55%).

1) where do you obtain a loop of rope with no ends ?
2) the left hand loop looks to be just wound round the other – does that count as a knot ?

rethreaded figure of 8, just looks SO reliable and bombproof.

im not sure, they all have thier strong points, but i think there is little chance of any of the others bettering the fact that chris (d*cknose) has a d*ck for a nose.

what a d*cknose

I'm terrible at remembering names of knots, is a Clove hitch the one you can use to attach a rope to another rope and then use it to apply tension without it slipping? I think it is in which case this knot saved my bacon on Loch Ness and gets my vote!

Marks and Spencer's Cheese Knot, from the bakery, with either a bowl of soup, or spinach and pinenut pasta.

sv – Member

Bowline good but weakens the rope too much (55%).

Care to expand on that?

Double fisherman's is satisfying, highwayman's is one I remember from cubs; "Wild west robbers used to use it to tie their horses up so they could run out, pull the cord and be away in a second". I still regale people with that story 🙂

Gotta love a figure of eight with bunny ears!

A bow.

Girlies use them to tie up clothes, and they're really easy to undo. If they had clove hitches and god knows what keeping their dresses on I'd be fumbling for hours.

Monkeys fist for me, only ever managed to do one properly once.

Double sheet bend

closely followed by

the chair knot

Gordymac ;o)

ck – i've spent many a while laughing at riggers trying to tie monkey's fist knots to get a line over a bar. In general the time it takes for them to get it right is significantly less than that which it takes me to procure and erect some other form of access! I can't tie them for toffee.

I quite lot the Beijing Knot a lot.. 😀