I was doing a trawl of YouTube and found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMJAAkhHcZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw1chCl6fXs

Well worth a look.

Wish my Spanish was better but excellent vids 👍

Very cool!  I haven't watch them the whole way through yet, but definitely will.

Great, thanks for sharing!
It will certainly improve my 4-strand round braids as well as the technique for making those woven pouches freehand.

Nice find! That is an interesting braid, not seen one done like that before

zud - I slowed down the playback to .75, then .50 on youtube, and understood the spanish a whole lot better.  It slows her fingers down too, so I can see what she's really doing.

Thanks SirMissalot,
I'm on my way to check it out.
👍👍👍🍌

It is funny how much this sport has got me wanting to learn textiles and leatherwork. I might have to cheat and have my girlfriend translate for me on that video. I am thinking of making that sling with nylon micro paracord I worry that wool or other natural fibers may wear out faster than I want.

Wool is pretty tough. There's a reason they used it and it's not just because it was available.

I made one according to her instructions.

I didn't have any bulky yarn to work with so I used some nasty polypropylene twine from the Dollar Tree just to make one as a proof of concept and that kind of plastic doesn't get heavy when it's soggy (it's been raining a lot here).

The material is easier to work with than thin yarn because I can actually feel it in my fingers, but it tends to tangle and get kinky.  Okay, stop that... curly.  It does make nice smooth braids, but it's not very forgiving when it comes to uneven tension during the weaving process.  It's also pretty slippery.  Because the material was so thin, I worried about short-cording the release cord, so I made it a bit short... like thumb to mid-bicep short.  I realized I didn't have enough blue twine to make the nice yin/yang pattern on the pouch, so I just went with yellow.  The finished product looks pretty nice, but after using it a few times, my weaving errors  became more apparent. 

How did it perform?  It's shorter than I generally use, but that wasn't the main issue.  Woven polypropylene is as raspy as a cat's tongue and it gripped my tennis balls like Velcro.  All my shots went at least 20 degrees to the left and were completely uncontrollable.

It's a sturdy little sucker, though, and it feels good in the hand.  I'll try it with some ice balls next.  I'll add bulky yarn to my shopping list.

In the instructions, she says to use two contrasting colors, and I agree.  It's really easy to lose your place if you get interrupted.  Also, this separate/twist/pinch method of braiding gives a nice round and sturdy cord, but it's really time consuming.

Give it a try!

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Good work, my man! Looks good. Maybe it will be better when wet?

Well, I tried ice balls and they worked a whole lot better.  They're still a bit light for such a stiff pouch.  Dry tennis balls cling to the pouch like burdock seeds, so I tried wetting them.  That worked a whole lot better.  I think that because the cords are so short, and I had been being gentle (i.e. careful), I might do better if I really snapped it hard.  Now we're getting somewhere.  I still needed a heavier projectile, so I tried a small sweet potato.  Aside from learning a new easy way to peel potatoes, I saw the spud rocket out like a dream and get sliced in half as it hit my target stand.  Lesson learned.  It needs a heavy projectile, no windup, and a lot of snapping action.

Now making another one, longer, out of synthetic yarn.  It's thin yarn, so it'll be a pain, but worth a more serious try.  Gotta get some bulky yarn to do it right, and I don't think I'll use cheap polypropylene twine any more... for anything whatsoever.

Well, I made one with the thin yarn, and It's an embarrassment.  I did get some extra bulky yarn this weekend, and it came out much better.  Since it's acrylic yarn, it's pretty stretchy no matter how tightly I braid it, so I guess it's mainly for show.

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