When I started tying lanyards/fobs to my knives they were much longer, far too long. It took several years for me to 'cut back' on the length and now most have the starting knot about an inch or so away from the end of the knife. About the distance that is needed to allow my pinky to wrap around the cord and come up against the knot.
Some have noticed that I use a whipping knot near the lanyard hole, this helps to keep the lanyard in place so it doesn't risk flopping into the path of the blade, but is held more to the spine of the handle, a much safer situation plus the lanyard doesn't slip/slide from side to side as much.
My current configuration of lanyard is a little different from the OP first image. I use the wide diamond knot first as a larger area for my pinky to come up against, and then a bead and finally three snake knots with a small keeper bead which helps avoid the snake knots from coming untied plus adds a decorative feature as well.
Here's some examples of mine, and I'll admit that if a knife doesn't have a way for me to tie a lanyard on...it has a short life on the island before it's voted off
Untitled by
GaryWGraley, on Flickr
Untitled by
GaryWGraley, on Flickr
Untitled by
GaryWGraley, on Flickr
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