Hammock

From Madwiki

This all started from a running joke. My friend Steve was always teasing me about "macrame" cuz he knows I love crafts. So just in time for Steve and Michelle's first wedding anniversary, I macamed them a hammock. I used instructions from a great book: How to make your own Hammock and lie in it.

First I made a small wooden shuttle, bought a bunch of rope, and assembled a loom out of a couple of large dowels firmly attached to my old clubhouse. Then I wove the main body of hammock between the dowels. This took me a couple of days and about 500 ft of rope (three trips to the hardware store). I used no. 10 poly coated rope, but I think no. 6 would work great and still be comfortable. This hammock is really heavy!

Then I made the two triangle ends (second pic)- they turned out to be very pretty and were extremely easy to do. I selected 2x2x5ft pieces of poplar for the wooden spreaders. My dad taught me to use my aunt's drill press so that the holes would be regular and even. I also used her wood burning kit to etch in their wedding date (no good pic of this unfortunately), which Ashlee cleverly verified with Steve for me without raising any suspicion. Then I varnished the spreaders and left them overnight. I was new to this so the varnish ended up slightly drippy, but acceptable. (no picture of this, luckily)

These last few steps all took place the morning I was to fly to Belgium on my way to South Africa. Talk about last minute! I woke up early and attached the dry wooden spreaders to the triangle bits with little square knots. Then Cathey and Breck jumped in to help me with the main assembly, where we took the woven body of the hammock off the dowels and attached them with bowline knots to the triangles. (2 hours til we have to leave for the airport) - you can see our box in the background, ready to check under for the flight.

When it is finished, we string it up and Richard bravely tests the hammock - it holds! We ooh and ahh because it looks really nice and is so comfy - very flat like a mattress. But it flips pretty easily too.

Finally, I just clean up the ends with a candle and quickly pack for the airport! Cathey sent the hammock out to reach Steve and Michelle just in time for their first anniversary! I have a feeling I will make more hammocks...