Somewhat apropos of this topic…
I had my wife help me pull some wire through a conduit yesterday. I had her pull on the string, while I pushed on the wires, and we eventually got the wires to pop out of the other end.
At dinner, she paused for a second, and said “ Ok, I need to know - how did you get the string in the conduit in the first place.” I gave her an evil grin and said “fluff.”
She just looked really confused, and I continued - “You tie a piece of fluff (in this case, some tissue paper) to the end of the string, and then use a vacuum cleaner to suck it through the conduit, pulling the string along. It’s an old trick."
you spelled “11 13 herbs & spices” wrong! 
YES! That knot. It escaped me like a string in a hoodie.
I just love that special tang from chromated copper arsenate.
And if the knot slips into the fabric, it’s a lot easier to work your than just a string would be. That’s what i usually use, along with the “scrunch it up” technique.
I use a double figure-8 on the things w big holes vs. thin strings.
