I know that I'm highly unlikely to use any of these but I like to believe I will and I need to know. Recently, Knots3D[1] was on Hackernews Homepage and I bought the app.
Now, while I'm waiting for something, and am not reading; instead of Twitter or other scrolling apps, I just watch the knots!
One day, any day, at some fateful party with friends, we may need to tie a knot, any knot, and I'm going to pick up one from my mind palace.
Watching is unlikely to help. I tell scouts to practice them before bed and then practice them in bed after the lights are out.
Tieing them in the dark gives you practice on how the rope feels, the relationship of your hands, and how a well tied one feels.
A few of these kids have had to tie knots while assembling a tent in driving rain, lashing to a tree, tying them over their heads, etc (most of course have not!). Or tied something to car before highway driving. This is how they have the skill and confidence to do it right.
You only need a handful of knots and hitches as your go-to knots that will help you in 99.9% of situations you will encounter. You might as well learn them: they are some of humanity’s oldest inventions.
I'll have to remember the "tie them in bed" thing. I tell scouts that their basic knots should be known "cold, wet, and blind" for the same reasons.
If we're doing knot relays, I'll also have them do it with gloves, or eyes closed, or tie the knot behind their back. Also gives a great sense of accomplishment when they finish.
> One day, any day, at some fateful party with friends, we may need to tie a knot, any knot, and I'm going to pick up one from my mind palace.
A somewhat feasible scenario if you make friends with a certain type of interest, go to parties with a certain type of theme, and diligently study knots like the Somerville Bowline.
(There is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a good deal of overlap in the rope skills and gear required for mountain climbing and, well, the other type of hobby where one suspends bodies from a rope.)
A bowline and trucker's hitch is something useful in everyday situations. Like tying something down in a truck bed or to the top of a car (moving a mattress, etc.). People don't realize you can pull a line very, very tight and get a ton of grip but you need the mechanical advantage of a trucker's hitch type of knot and tension system. They're both extremely useful when camping too.
I have a 3m piece of 550 next to my desk. I use that to practice knots while in meetings (that I'm not participating directly in) or pondering a challenging problem.
I used to have a piece of string on my desk as a type of fiddle toy. Much quicker to learn knots by tying them than trying to memorize the instructions.
Now, while I'm waiting for something, and am not reading; instead of Twitter or other scrolling apps, I just watch the knots!
One day, any day, at some fateful party with friends, we may need to tie a knot, any knot, and I'm going to pick up one from my mind palace.
1. https://knots3d.com