That's such a great tutorial. I got linked to it a little while back off of Reddit's cross-stitch group and it's SO useful. Really made a huge difference and I willingly created projects where I was doing French knots all the time.

Another trick if you're doing a lot of them is to pick up a milliner's needle. The eye doesn't expand out as much as a traditional embroidery needle so you can keep the tension on the thread as you slide the needle down without having to fuss with getting the eye through. They're also really great if you're doing a lot of bullion stitch for the same reason.