Another hobby. Since the internet, the mystery of knot tying is being dissolved. Good for you, but bad for me, I can’t claim to be the expert anymore, it’s on the internet. Use your browser, and search for Knot Tying. Lots of sites. I haven’t visited them all. Animated knot tying of several important knots and hitches may be found at:
www.mistral.co.uk/42brghtn/knots/index.html.
It doesn’t show the tautline hitch, but you can find it at other sites. The tautline hitch is similar to the two-half-hitches shown, except the working end goes around the standing or taut part twice in the first hitch.
I have thrown I don’t know how many tautline hitches, and it is a good hitch as Scruffy sleeper said. The problems, however are several. It does not work well on slippery line, especially polyethylene and the smooth braided nylons. If it gets tied tight on small stuff (less than 1/4 inch diameter) it can jam and be very difficult to untie. This can be eased somewhat by tying it as a slippery (or slipped) hitch. When you put the last half hitch around the standing part, put a bight through the loop. Then when you pull on the end of the line, it undoes the last hitch. A bight is simply the line folded back on itself. Picture tying a shoelace. In fact the bow knot used for shoes is actually a double slipped square knot.
That said, I have stopped using any knot in guy lines and similar tent lines. I now use TAUT-TIE for anything up to 3/16th inches. It is a simple little plastic line adjuster. 8 in a package for $3.99 from Campmor. Others probably have them. Weigh about 1/2 oz. each. Advantages: fasten to the guy line, so hard to lose. Easy to use in the dark and with gloves. Readily adjustable. Untying a taut line hitch after it has rained and frozen is not impossible, but you will be cursing before you untie the second one. TAUT-TIES are bright yellow, so they help mark the location of a guy and keep you from walking into it or tripping over it. Works on smooth or rough line. You can get them for larger line, but they are a little heavier, and knots and hitches are easier to clap on or throw in larger line.
Trailblazer75