Home made hammock.

How long have I been talking about becoming a hanger? Well the wait is finally over! This weekend Boo and I went to a couple of different fabric stores and picked up our ripstop fabric, polypro webbing, and some nylon thread. Then we headed over to REI for some items I needed for my suspension system. I'm doing tree huggers with a carabiner, a metal ring, and 5 foot rope ties at the end of my hammock. This probably sounds confusing, but I know what I want. I just don't know all the technical terms to describe it fully yet. Boo is doing a simple suspension of just webbing, or tree huggers. I'm the one that had to get all high tech so I could save a few ounces in weight. haha! By the way, the poly pro webbing is called tree huggers, or tree straps b/c it does not harm the tree at all when hanging up a hammock.

We drive up to my mom's, b/c she has a sewing machine and can help us fumble along as we attempt to make our hammocks. I tell her what we are planning on doing and she immediately has opinions on how it should be done. I tell her, "Mom!, I've been researching how to make hammocks for days on the www.hammockforums.net site and I've read all about the materials I need, the stitches I need, even the type of thread I need." She looks at me and says you don't need to "research" so much for a simple hammock. hahaha! That's my mom. :) She tells me to sit down and she goes to get her 25 yr old, metal Sears Kenmore machine that is in fantastic shape. Man, they don't make things like they used to anymore. This thing is built to last forever. She shows me how to set it up. I thank my mom for helping me out with my hammock and she tells me she loves having a project to keep her busy. I'm a bit shocked that she is actually enjoying this. I thought it would be a tedious chore for her that she would do only b/c I was her daughter, not because she was interested. Cool, a project we can both get into!

Well, Some how, my mom ends up sewing a rolled hem around both of our hammocks and the loops around our webbing. I just just sit there and watch, chit chat and help pull the material through :) I can't help but feel like a little kid again. My favorite part was watching her sew and listening to all the stories she told me about my grandmother, and the stories of my mom sewing entire bedding sets for all of kids when we were little. I had no idea my mom sewed my pink checked bedspread, curtains, shams, and pillows that I had when I was little. WOW! I learned alot today about my mom.

OH, and Boo, he was on a mission to help my dad get a converter box for his old TV in the sunroom. They went to Wal-mart to buy one before the whole digital thing goes into effect. Boo tells him he could call a number and get a stimulus voucher to help offset the cost of the box. The box is only $60 and the voucher is for $50, so my dad, being the frugal mcdugal that he is, decides to wait for the voucher. Boo then fixes my parents fax machine. Wow, that boy can do anything! My parents think he is "the man." I know he is. :)

So the hammocks are sewn, now boo and I gather up the edges, knot them until we are able to "whip" them, and decide to test out the hammocks in my parents backyard. We only have Boo's webbing suspension system b/c mine is too complicated to put together right now. At least too complicated for me, until I could do some more research! hahaha! We all go out to the backyard, our R and D office, (the outdoors is our research and development office, haha!) and watch Boo wrap the tree huggers (webbing) around the tree. I am just praying that it works. We are all so quiet that the only thing we hear is my mom's fountain in her pond, bubbling away. This is it! Boo gently sits in the hammock to test the weight, then swings his legs in and gets a big grin. SCORE!!! it worked! Our first homemade hammock with webbing suspension worked! Whoo hoo! Everyone gets a turn in Boo's hammock and we all agree at how comfortable it feels. aaaahhhhhh, I can't wait to go camping and use our hammocks. Now my turn to test mine out. we put it on the same suspension system. I gently get in, wiggle around, and frown. I can't get comfortable. My hammock has too much sag on one side and a ridge coming right up the middle of the hammock. Boo pulls me out and my dad trys, says the same thing, not as comfy as Boo's. It's back to the drawing board on mine. I need to work on some gathering or whipping techniques. All in all, it was a great day. Knowing we made our own gear just made it that much sweeter. I'll get my hammock in working order, you can believe that! It was great spending some quality time with my mom. My dad even asked her to make him a couple of hammocks to hang out by the pond! Looks as if we started something! hahaha!