…and many other knots, animated in this awesome resources: animatedknots.com — just the thing you need to keep you occupied over the winter.
“The bowline makes a reasonably secure loop in the end of a piece of rope. It has many uses, e.g., to fasten a mooring line to a ring or a post. Under load, it does not slip or bind. With no load it can be untied easily. Its principle shortcoming is that it cannot be tied, or untied, when there is a load on the standing end. It should therefore be avoided when, for example, a mooring line may have to be released under load. Two bowlines can be linked together to join two ropes.”