This one is a little different as well... At first I was a little worried that it would come out with too much of a "70's crocheted short-shorts" feel, but who am I kidding - I LIKE short shorts...

The end product is pretty nice. The slings have a nice feel and should hold up pretty well. The design is "clean" and efficient, while looking authentically primitive at the same time. It is interesting to note that knitting is a relatively recent technology. No Romans for instance, and many of what we think of as great textile cultures (including south/central america) had no knowledge of knitting. Most accounts have it introduced to europe by the moors. The colonists (and especially the missionaries) then spread it throughout the world. Surprising when you think of the simplicity compared to a lot of the techniques that were in place pre-contact.

The tarred twine makes a nice sling, but doesn't photograph at all well.

-Matthias







The top one was a prototype where I just knitted the pocket. I realised after finishing the other that it would be easy to cleanly attach cords so it's a working sling now too! The lower is knit one piece (a one-string sling!)



Here you can see the shaping in the pouch and the "I-cord" release/retention lines. The cords are 3 knit-stitch I-cord. It turns out that 2 stitches would have worked very nicely as an alternative (and taken 30% less time). One of the nicer things about knitting is that smoothly tapering the cords is a piece of cake.

The pouch is worked in stockinette, with 4 stitches carried parallel to the edge and a curved/tapered insert for the shaping.



The pocket has a "chain" edge to stabilise the knit and give a clean selvedge. The edge is achieved by slipping the first stitch of every row purlwise and knitting the last stitch. Sorry for the terrible picture... You can also see that the shaping adds a nice amount of concavity to the pouch.



Here is the "prototype" with the braided cords. All you need to do to join the cords with no knot is to loop each string through a stitch (one of three). No knots! and it locks the stitches at the same time. In this sling, I've picked up two stitches with one of the strings so I have two strings doubled to give me four strands for the round spiral braid.



Another shot showing the I-cord a little better.


Instructions for the one-piece model:

No 18 seine twine on 4mm double-pointed needles.
k1= knit 1, p1 = purl 1, s1p = slip 1 stitch purlwise
m1 = make 1, I've used invisible increases created by working a yarn over, and then knitting the YO as a twisted stitch the subsequent row.
k2tog = knit 2 together, k3tog = knit three together, center stitch on top

For both increases and decreases, I've used symmetric stitches for the left and right side as appropriate. For the increases this means working the twists so that the loop slants to the outside. The decreases are k2tog and SSK or slip 1, k1, psso.

*Retention cord*
• Cast on three stitches.
• For the I-cord, k3 then slide the work to the other end of the DP, bring the working strand behind and repeat until you have about 4 inches.
• Transfer the second row of stitches to a second needle and unwork the cast on edge.
• Move the 3 tail end stitches to the first needle and work the stiches in pairs as k2tog to join. weave the cast on tail in to the Icord as you progress.
• Continue working in I-cord until you have the desired length.
  
  *Pouch*
• 1  slip 1 purlwise, m1, k1, m1, k1
• 2  s1p, p3, k1
• 3  s1p, k1, m1, k1, m1, k2
• 4  s1p, p5, k1 (rest of even rows to follow same pattern unless noted)
• 5  s1p, k2, m1, k1 ,m1, k3
• 7  s1p, k3, m1, k1 ,m1, k4
• 9  s1p, k10
• 10  s1p, p3, m1, p3 ,m1, p3, k1
• 11  s1p, k12
• 13  s1p, k3, m1, k5 ,m1, k4
• 15  s1p, k14
• 17  s1p, k14
• 19  s1p, k14
• 21  s1p, k14
• 23  s1p, k3, k2tog, k3 ,k2tog, k4
• 25  s1p, k12
• 26  s1p, p3, p2tog, p1 ,p2tog, p3, k1
• 27  s1p, k10
• 29  s1p, k2, k2tog, k1 ,k2tog, k3
• 31  s1p, k1, k2tog, k1 ,k2tog, k2
• 33  s1p,  k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1
• 35  slip 1 purlwise, k3tog, k1
  
  *Release cord*
• continue in I-cord.

This was written from memory, so may not be quite right... should be close though.

That's because it IS one piece of rope. If you had the patience to use smaller twine/needles I think you could make a killer knit sling. I'd like to try using a double sided, two colour patterned knit on 2.5mm... so many projects. (and knitting is easy, and a fantastic survival skill to boot. I can put together a 4" thick grass blanket/cape/mat in a surprisingly short amount of time)

Thanks,

Matthias

Matthias, you are the cordage master.  That looks really great.

My sweetie is a great knitter.  Sox, scarves, etc.  But FINALLY, this is something useful for her to do, ....if only I can convince her to see it that way.       mgreenfield

  That looks great.  I knit also.  I'm going to put that on my next projects to do list.   

Weird looking game.  I remember reading about it in a guide to Japan or something, but I can't remember anything about it.

I could never get my head wrapped around GO.  I can see how the pieces in chess attack, cordon off sections of the board, trap other pieces, etc., but I can't seem to see an overall picture on a GO board 'til it's too late.  Kudos to anyone who can play this game well!

NICE pattern, Matthias.  I knit some, and crochet too, and actually made my first sling by knitting a square very much like a gauge swatch, then attaching pieces of antenna cord (some odd but rather strong material ordered online) to the four corners.  It worked, and my friends in the "swordfighting with wooden dowels" club I belong to liked it.  They like the braided ones better, though, as it turns out.