Somewhere around here, when I was in my SHTF mode of preparedness, I have a deck of playing cards that each have a different knot on them. I wonder if I can find them. Actually, I'm glad you said that. My neighbor just stepped down from decades of Scout Master duties and keeps bugging me for ways he can pay me back for some stuff I've done for him!!! I'll contract it out and maybe learn something in the process. Cool...
Blake's Hitch: I literally trust my life to this hitch, everyday. You can tighten your rope simply by pulling it through the hitch. Release is done by squeezing the hitch, and pulling down. In the following video, think of the other colored rope as the end of your cord. You'll simply run your cord through your grommet, run it around the bottom of your frame, bring it back up, and then use the tail end of the cord to tie the hitch around the upper section of itself.
I appreciate all the suggestions. I found that deck of cards. I misremembered...they are general survival tips (first aid, finding food, etc), not knots. I'm gonna have to find strategic places to unstack some of the wood on each rack so I can get up there to pull and secure these knots between all 12 grommet pairs. Edge-to-edge, the rack is 5' across, and the firewood blocks me from being able to lean in to reach to the center...and there's barely any space between the top of the stack and the frame of the roof. I can't possibly grab one part of a hitch with one hand and pull another part in the opposite direction with the other hand. It lacks "arm span" and "reach in" access. My other option is to temporarily lash the tarp down by running ropes straight down to the bottom of the frame, and wait until I whittle down the stack through normal use next winter to get unimpeded access to do it right...but I don't want to wait that long. I want to see the finished product as I imagined it. I gotta remind myself that I'm retired and have the time (getting the patience is another story.) Maybe I'll figure something out after the first few that I do. Man, I hate to think of the hours I have in these things.
on topic: I've decided to try the Taut Line Hitch. It looks like I can tie it tightly in close quarters and slide it with one hand to take up slack. I can tie this on both grommets so that I can take up slack from both sides, which should help with the "reach" issue. The guy in the vid you linked for me used this knot to finish up his Trucker's Hitch. Regarding the pride thing...I installed a water softener a few years ago. 45+ PEX connections and not a single one leaked...and I have never used PEX before (I've sweated plenty of copper.) But I DID have a very slow leak at one of the 3/4" NPT-to-PEX adaptes at the filter housing. I mean I got one tiny drop of water every 10 minutes. My inclination was to just live with it and "fix it someday." I guess I finally know myself better than that, and I reminded Me that the reason I do this stuff myself is so that I don't have to live with shoddy work. So I took the thing apart and fixed it. Six years later and it's still as tight as can be.
So could you use a Blake knot on something like a tent line, where you're securing an object to a stake in the ground (as opposed to sliding up & down a climbing rope), because that is essentially my application. I need to tie this knot on both ends of a single rope (tying the knot back onto it's own rope), after going through the opposing tarp grommets so that I can draw them together. The way the video is illustrated, it looks like you need two loose ends to tie this knot. And every other set of instructions I see on the web shows this as a friction knot for ascending, and not a knot for securing objects with a single rope. Of course, it's late here on the east coast and I might not be seeing this clearly.
It can do exactly what you need it to do. I used paracord, going through grommets of an enormous tarp, then around bottom frame members, on the ground, then back to the other end of the paracord, to tighten the tarp on an rv shelter I built. It is hard to explain, so check out my little diagram below. If you have any other questions, pm me.
Once you get used to tying and using this hitch, on a loop, you'll find yourself using it for many applications. I use it to tighten the tarp on my trailer, hang an adjustable birdcage cord, tie my bike into my pickup bed, hold boards together while I drill them, etc., etc. One thing, you have to dress this knot properly, or it won't bite into the cord it's wrapped around. So, tie it, and then sock it up, by adjusting and tightening its loops going around the cord that's passing through it. In your case, rotate the loop, so you have ample room to tighten it, as you advance the hitch. When its pretty tight, rotate it down a bit, so you can advance the hitch, again, to super tighten the loop. Do this when your load is stacked to the max, and then cut the tail, leaving enough to loosen the hitch enough so you can remove the top load, but not to the point where it'll go completely off the cord, and then tighten the hitch, again, over the smaller load.
So let me ask a question: Can I tighten this merely by pulling on the end, or do I have to concurrently pull the end and put my hand on the knot & push it?
Try the "Monkey Fist"! This is a knot in the end of a heaving line that is about the size and shape of a baseball. Old-time sailors love to show this one to Navy recruits. Hal