When it is a hitch or a bend. Confused?
While knots, hitches, and bends are all commonly referred to as knots, there are some pretty distinct differences.
A hitch is when a knot is tied onto something else, such as tying a horse to a pole or fastening a clothesline to a tree. Look outside your cabin this summer to find a great example of a trucker’s hich.
A bend occurs when you tie two ropes together, or two ends of rope together. A type of bend would be what is commonly referred to as the fisherman’s knot, which is essentially just two overhand knots. Look this one up, it is super easy to tie and really useful in a whole bunch of situations.
And of course, the knot. A knot is when a rope is tied onto itself, such as a bowline or figure eight. When you tie your shoes in the morning, your actually using a bow square knot. See, you’ve already got that one down.
Here’s my favortie rope joke:
A woman walk’s into an alley to find a length of rope jumping up and down, screaming and yelling. The rope is banging itself against the concrete, rubbing itself against the brick walls of the buildings, becoming tangled in itself. The rope’s ends go in and out of each other, causing the rope to become even angrier.
Finally, the woman asks the rope, “Excuse me, can I help you?’
The rope gets up, looks the woman right in the eye, and says, “I’m a frayed knot!”