A Doll's Hammock
| Materials Required: | 14 strands of raffia, |
| A tapestry needle. |
Even simpler to make than the sponge bag is a doll's hammock of raffia. It is knotted in just the same way.
Fig. 23
Lay twelve strands of raffia evenly together. Bend them to find the middle, or "middle them," as the sailors say. Lay the short end of another piece of raffia on the middle of the twelve strands, with its tip turning toward the left, and wind the long end round and round from right to left, binding them together for two and three-quarter inches. Bring the two ends of this binding together to form a loop, wind a strand of raffia tightly around them (see Fig. 23), and tie the ends securely. You will then have twenty-four ends to knot together, two and two, as the knots in the bag were made. Pin the loop on the cushion of a chair or tie it to a low hook or to the doorknob, so that you can pull the strands taut. The first row of knots is tied about two inches from the loop and after that the rows are only an inch apart. The finishing of the edge of the hammock is of course different from the bag.
Fig. 24
It is done in this way: In starting the second row of knots the left strand in the first pair is of course left untied, and, after knotting the row across, the right strand of the last pair is also left free. When the third row is started the loose strand on the left side of the hammock is knotted in with the left one in the first pair of strands in this row (see Fig. 24). In other words, the strands which are left untied at each side of the hammock when the second, fourth, sixth and all the even numbered rows have been knotted, are tied in with the outside strands in the next uneven numbered row. To make a hammock for a little doll thirteen rows of knotting will be enough. When the last row has been tied bring the ends of the strands together, start a new strand at two inches from the last row of knots, and bind the ends together tightly for two and three-quarter inches to make a loop like the one at the other end. After the loop is finished cut the ends close to the binding, and with a tapestry needle threaded in the end of the binding strand sew it through and through, to secure it, and cut its end close to the binding.