Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Can she knit it?

Yes, she can!
I have knitted a hammock. I'll let that sink in a bit.

That's right, a full-fledged, person-sized hammock for my enjoyment in the backyard! It was a bit trying at times, but since I was doing it as another "homework project" I persevered.

I'm going to copy/paste my homework submission now, because I worked really hard on it, and I don't think I could write it over again very well tonight. (Don't mind the HP dorkiness.)

Hello Professor! LNS of Slytherin, turning in my Transfiguration homework … a HAMMOCK!
hammock done!
I began this adventure with some closet-dowel, 8’ of 2x2 pine, and 800’ of 0.5” nylon rope. {Aside: If someone happens to know a good whittling spell, it would have been a big help, because doing it the muggle way (with a big ol’ knife) gave me blisters.}

I tried to cast yarnio, but the rope just gave a little wiggle and flopped down again. So, I tried to be more specific: Yarnio Hammock, no dice. One more try: YARNIO GARTER DROP-STITCH HAMMOCK and that did the trick. The unwieldy rope behaved like nice pliable yarn, and my giant kniting needles went to work (seriously, 1.5” in diameter, that’s huge! {which is also what she said}).
made of awesome

Along the first edge, I cast on through the spreader bar (pine 2x2, sanded, drilled with 30 odd holes, and stained walnut). Then the spell really went to work, and it created a nice open net with a lot of stretch.
ends
The ends from the cast-on were ~4’ long, so they could be lashioed to 3” solid steel rigging rings. I also used some muggle eklectical tape to carefully keep the nylon rope from fraying. Fire was also employed.
long view
Once the knitting was complete and attached to both wooden spreaders, I enchanted some smaller cording to lace itself through the edges in order to stabilize the structure. It worked like a charm (obviously) ;-)

time to relax
And, lest you think that this is only for decoration, here I am putting my feet up and relaxing before the July classes start up.

Thank you professor, for your encouragement and input! I really enjoyed this class :-D

2 comments:

  1. Awesome! I would've never thought to knit a hammock. You are a fearless knitter!!

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  2. I love this! I need to replace my husband's hammock and I have been dreading sewing with industrial fabric. But knitting with rope- yes!

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