Suggest useful knot for elastic pigtail ties holding tent screens open

I can’t picture this and I think my tent has magnets. Are you tying two pieces of cord together? Tying a cord to a loop? Maybe a photo would help.

Sounds like the perfect use case for the Berluti Knot.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LqG2_L62tog

A half hitch. Pass thru three or four times. Pulled tight with the elastic, the tension holds them in place. On windy days I might add another half hitch. Not being a true square knot, it’s easier to untie.

I was thinking that instead of tying a knot each time, you could make a permanent loop on one side and a simple overhand knot (or figure 8) on the other side. Then you can just pass the knot through the loop and it will stay loosely trapped, like a button or toggle through a loop/hole.

Finally dug out my tent and took a picture of the pigtails (for mesh) along with the nearby magnetic restraint for the vestibule fly.

The sum of their lengths is greater than the magnetic tie for fly; but the total length is in 2 halves.

With gloves off and warm fingers, I can tie a half bow, and maybe that’s the way to go.

I struggle to tie a full bow, and the more involved Berluti bow needs more cord length than I have dexterity.

Fiddling with it in my house just now, it turns out that a semi-tightened square knot is much easier to untie with the elastic than with normal cord.  (If I’d ever noticed that, I’d forgotten.)

Terran, it looks like about 3 loops might be the ticket, and about the limit of my in-home dexterity.  Is this something you’ve used successfully in wind?

Dan, I might use needle and thread to put a small, stable-but-stretchable loop in one half with a bulky stopper knot in the other half, since my brain does not do knots well even after all these years.

Securing a loop with thread is a good idea if it’s not long enough to tie a small bight.

I incorrectly called it a half hitch. I meant a half knot like half a square knot. Instead of passing through once, I pass through multiple times. That holds. You can do another half knot on top in the same direction to make a deformed granny knot that comes out .

If you can do a half bow, do another bow around the half bow with the other tag end.

I used a small loop aka Dan as the best option of several that I tried. It was pretty good, but still a little tricky if my hands were very cold or wet.

(I ended up making straps with magnets because they are so much easier)