My weaving area is still unavailable. But I guess the sling-braiding itch got too hard to ignore. Thus, a sling!
It's made from 6 strands of 48 lb hemp, in a simple 3-strand braid with a split pouch. I followed the Dan Bollinger tutorial on slinging.org, here: https://slinging.org/20.html
His instructions are for a 1m sling. He recommends starting with strands that are 2.8 times the length of the desired finished length. So, for the 1m sling (39"), cut 6 strands at 110" each (280cm). Braid the central finger loop for about 4", then join. Braid about 14", split for the pouch. Each side of the pouch is about 4" long, then rejoin and braid another 18". Do an overhand knot (or some kind of sturdy knot) to finish, then trim the ends.
Hemp is hard on my poor fingers!
My braiding is not as consistent as I would prefer. I'll have to see how well the sling works... I'm also wondering if I should try waxing or oiling it, and what effect that might have.
This is similar to the Balearic style in that it has a simple pouch made from splitting the cordage for braiding and then rejoining. A lot of slings use a leather pouch, or they sew a bit of leather or something to these split braids. Or they weave a pouch that is incorporated into the braiding at each end. Most of the tutorials I saw for Balearic slings had the release cord tapering at the far end, sometimes ending in a tassel made from much thinner material. Many tutorials also did 5-strand pigtail braids rather than 3-strand. And some were made from grass that was twisted into cordage as the braiding proceeded. That made it easier to increase or decrease the size of the braids. Some had thicker braids near and in the pouch area, for example, in addition to narrowing the release braid.
I still plan to do slings made from animal fiber (or maybe just acrylic yarn at first, and then animal fiber) and the fancier square braids, with various styles of woven/braided/sewn/etc. pouches.
But these quick bast-fiber braided slings are cute, too.
And yes, even with the delightfully amateurish construction, I am exceedingly pleased with myself. I'll get better with more experience and with the feedback from actual real-life use.
