There are three things to remember when making a figure of eight knot and once you do, you will never forget how to tie this knot again:

Make a head; Strangle it; Poke it in the eye.

Now that might sound a little gruesome, but here’s what I mean.

1. Take hold of a length of rope in both hands, it can be thin rope or thick rope, it depends on your needs. Bring the pieces together to form a loop in your left hand; This is ‘The head’.
2. Keep hold of this loop (head) and using your right hand wrap the loose half of the right section of rope around the back of the loop clockwise; Thus ‘Strangling’ the head.
3. Now, take the right hand piece of loose rope in your right hand and insert the end through the front of the loop; So you are ‘Poking the head in the eye!’
4. Pull both loose ends apart and this tightens the figure of eight knot.

This knot can be used to secure just about anything but is especially useful when it comes to securing a belay for rock climbing. It is a good knot for securing to another rope and can be tied or untied very quickly and easily.

For an even stronger knot, which you can loop onto a bar, hook or pulley, you need to follow the knot through again with the remaining rope before you have tightened it. Literally put the remaining rope through the same holes as the original knot while following the direction the original rope went. This is now called a follow through.

To attach the knot onto a belt loop or pulley, simply follow steps 1 to 3 but before pulling the knot tight, loop one end of the rope through the belt loop or pulley required and then continue with the follow through process. This is called a figure eight loop follow through.