Knots I have known and loved

Angler's Loop knot

This knot makes a relatively strong and very secure fixed loop in anything from slender monofilament to large rope. It tends to jam in natural fibre ropes but fisherman love it for use on nylon and gut lines. When tied with an accurate hand even the largest of groper, white pointer shark and black marlin cannot evade this knots prickly companion. I have landed many large sea game that would sink most substantial sea going vessels with the help of the perfection loop (as the Angler's Loop knot is also known) and my sun beaten hide.

Alpine Butterfly

This is a fixed loop tied in the bight of a rope and is clipped into by the middle climber in a team of three. It can be pulled in two or three directions at once without distorting or capsizing. The alpine butterfly is regarded as the queen of knots (the bowline is the king of knots) and can also be used to isolate a flawed section of rope so that it can be used when no other rope is available as a replacement. Once when scaling K-2 and leading 4 other climbers I found a dual alpine butterfly configuration set in tandem to be invaluable. The incompetence of others never ceases to amaze me but knots never let me down.

Chefalo knot

Cuckold's knot

Gordian knot

Reef knot

Use this as a binding knot (to tie together two ends of the same piece of string) or as a tie around something. The more strain placed upon it the tighter it's pulled. Don't use it for ropes or two bits of mismatched cordage. The Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians knew of this knot and were aware of its superiority over the unreliable granny knot. This was eloquently displayed in Marrakech when I trussed up a would be assailant with many reef knots. The smirk on my face and superior knot tying capabilities made him more furious much to his struggling demise.

Granny knot

Man rope knot

"A man who can tie a manrope knot ... is an object of respect" Albert Wetjen (1904)

This is the description from a year 2000 calendar of knots - "Wherever a good-looking lump is needed on the end of a three-to five stranded rope or braid, this knot will fill the role" I am a man and wherever I look I see the need for a good-looking lump.

Sheet Bend

A general purpose bend for uniting two lines made of the same material. Many an inexperienced sailor has fallen foul of this bend when used with lines of different size. In particular a thick stiff rope could straighten out and spill the small cord. However the sheet bend can save your life. I've certainly found this out when sailing in mountainous seas in the pacific with nothing but me and the sheet bend between the dark ocean bottom and God.

Square knot

Trefoil

Resources for more knot love:
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/knotlink.htm
rec.crafts.knots

It's as important to know when, where and why to use the right knot as it is to know the knot. The bowline is the king of knots, but it can't be tied or untied under strain . Sheet bends and clove hitches can be tied but not untied under a lot of strain, but attach lines to other lines very well, parallel and perpendicular respectively. They both bind often, as well. As a commercial fisherman, one of the best general knots I have ever found is the munter knot (I only heard it called that once, it may have another name or three). This knot will not attach well to another line but works well on any standing object, can be drawn up and let out under strain, and never, ever, ever binds. Tie it this way- take a half bend around your standing object (rail, piling, skipper, etc.) Then take a half bend around the standing line, where it first contacts your object. Bring your line back around your object. This is the brilliant part of the knot- right here you can hold as much weight with two fingers as the line can take, as well as let out or take in line. The half bend around the standing line creates a bridle which cannot bind. All that's left to make it fast is a couple of half hitches onto the standing line. I heard you can use this minus the half hitches to belay, which makes a lot of sense.