For a while now, I thought I knew how to tie an alpine butterfly loop. When I exerted pressure on it, I noticed that my knot was topologically identical to a slip knot with the slipping end used to throw a half hitch around the loop of the slip knot. This seemed to work like the aforementioned alpine butterfly loop, but I discovered an error in my procedure. I would like to know if the knot I have been tying has a name. Does it sound familiar to anyone who can suss out my description?
The common problem with inventing a knot is that it comes undone when the load is off. (if it comes undone when under normal load its not a knot … )
Half hitches are used to ‘lock’ knots.
For example, if you have a clove hitch, its fine if the tension is constant and from a constant direction. but if it was say a horse trying to pull the clove hitch off, the changes in direction can undo it… Even a bowline can come undone when wobbled back and forth, without a locking knot on the tail to lock it tightly.
If you get the alpine hitch wrong, you get a clove hitch. Or if the half hitches are opposites, its a thumb knot. You can then use another half hitch to lock the clove hitch or thumb knot.
But can you web search up a picture of the slip knot you refer to ? There are all sorts of knots referred to as slip knots - I see that the loop made with a clove hitch may be called a slip knot.
