On Fri, 11 Dec 2015 15:53:09 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Anyway, I'm looking for a 'most useful' list

The half hitch, basis of all knots.

The grand old square knot.

The surgeon's knot, when a square knot won't stay tight long enough to
make the second half hitch.

The slipped square knot, aka bow knot or shoelace knot, for when you
may need to untie it. Tip: to easily untie a plain square knot, pull
on both ends of the same rope until it is straight. Then the other
rope will be two half hitches that easily slide off the first rope.

The clove hitch.

The slipped clove hitch, aka miller's knot. (I learned that one by
studying a sack of flour I'd bought from a miller.) The only way to
tie a sack shut if you want to open it and then close it again with
the same twine. (But a clove hitch will do.)

The sheet bend, aka weaver's knot. Used to join two lines end-to-end.

I've never had much use for the bowline, but it comes free with the
sheet bend.

The cow hitch, for attaching a rubber band to a folding clothes-drying
rack so it can be stretched over the joint after the rack is set up.
Also useful for attaching a camera strap to a GPS. Useful any time
you want to attach the bight of a line to an object.

Or, to wrench this back onto cycling, I use a cow hitch to attach my
garters to one of the safety pins I pin the ankles of my sweat pants
with, then use the other safety pin to anchor this pin to said sweat
pants before I hang them up. When I open the pin, the cow hitch
undoes itself.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/