Slingless...

Today, an oddity. I find myself slingless.  I exchange slings all the time, trade, sell and occasionally give away my slings, if it's a truly worthy cause...but usually I don't give up my own sling until I have crafted a superior replacement.  But today was different.  I was spending a delightful afternoon with a friend of mine who is a train conductor.  Though not a slinger in practice or name he is clearly a slinger at heart. Then I realized due to his profession, that he often finds himself in open empty country with piles and piles of perfectly weighted rocks.  And this was the last straw.  Without a word I pulled out my last sling and handed it over, saying (I already said without a word didn't I?)  "I think you need this."  And, in the spirit of Wesley in the princess bride he gave me no blubbering or bribe attempts to courteously refuse, he simply said, "I think I do."  Sling on bro!  May the open country on either sides of your track be ever filled with inspiring targets. 

Not Crochet, Beer Commercial

My brother in law was recently in a beer commercial I loved it, and am doing by bit toward virality, if I may be so bold to coin a word.

Limited editions

These guys are goin on sale soon.  Glazed ceramic handle beads, double black stays, and extra rivets for pocket shaping perfection...and that wasn't even a sentence.

Double riveting prevents pocket creep

The double tuck pocket design slingmoore unveiled last year had an untended result.  The angle of the pocket-folds near the stays would tend to slowly open like an oxford shirt collar.  The double riveting fixes that problem, you know, just in case you're sharpened aesthetic senses be too easily bruised whilst chucking large projectiles.

Little slinger loads like a Benjamite.

Here's my second-born demonstrating his fast-load sling skills.  Of special note are how he slides his hand down the stays to nest the handle and trigger quickly while holding the ball above, and the great distance he slung it. Also he is using slingmoore's very own sling with stays shortened using the modified sheep shank shown a few posts ago.  Nothing like a sling to transform a boring morning in a hotel into a slinging paradise.  Keep slinging.

Shortening Your Long Sling

This knot looks like only Gordian himself could tie it, but it's simple and can turn your long range chuck monster into a short range accuracy machine.  Here's how to tie this modified sheep shank.

First, take a bite of cord, a bite is an open loop. 

Repeat until three loops adorn both sides of your warrior fingers trained for battle.

From one side, tie a simple hitch over all the bites of cord.

Then do the same from the other side, so that the two hitches are back to back.

After tightening from both sides, and a bit of fanagaling, the knot (which is just a modified sheep shank) looks like this on one side, 

...and looks like this on the other.

And of course you need to do the same to the other stay.  And just like that it's like you have a different sling.  I tested this knot slinging, and it didn't come out, but that doesn't mean it won't, so check it before you sling.  And as always make sure you are throwing soft projectiles or that you are totally alone.

Row 1, cell 1	Row 1, cell 2	Row 1, cell 3
Row 2, cell 1	Row 2, cell 2	Row 2, cell 3
Row 3, cell 1	Row 3, cell 2	Row 3, cell 3
Row 4, cell 1	Row 4, cell 2	Row 4, cell 3

Double crochet

After many moons and more stitches, been hookin it up with double crochet.  This is a ten row with same patterns I been using but skipping the [3+6+6+3] row and instead just joining.  The double crocheting affected the pattern more than I anticipated.

This rivet setter...

...makes my former rivets look like spray painted vandalism... Compared to this masterpiece.

Potential Crochet Action

I mean...it is like looking at fun materialized... I turn the hanks that I find here into these portable balls of nylon, and this is how ballistic crochet begins.

Beginnings revisted

This was the first projectile I ever made for slinging.  Its leather filled with clay pellets.  We have strayed far from this humble beginning, and that's a good thing because I was not considering it for use against human targets ...

Spring 2014 Slings

Polished Kalimpong chocolate brown leather...double tucked pocket with rivets and also sewn...new comfortable  handle.  And...it slings like a cannon.

Are you going ballistic?

Ballistic Crochet is gonna be hawking its wares... in a venue in India... so stop by... soon available in the US hopefully...

Cotton Honker

I couldn't resist...I was alone with a #6 hook and a ball of cotton twine.  It is huge....and it hurts.

12 row cornfed with a #4 hook

This puppy would hurt.  The colors are great but mostly because black just makes any color pop.  I like it in my hand but I don't want it coming at me at 70 mph.

tiranga disappointment

the single central stripe is not as sharp as I hoped... closing is clunky... need the same color in the middle..a double stripe at least.

glen...

rainbow...strangly unsatisfying

this was an attempt to mimic the scrap ball from earlier...but for reasons I can't describe...I don't like it... too small...too much red... not sure... the scrappy one was superior, not sure why though.

rainbow defeat...and victory

This was meant as mimicry of the rainbow scrap ball... but for reasons I can't describe... i don't like it... but in contrast to this... driving in unbelievably horrible traffic today in Kathmandu just a the sun was setting now at the beginning of monsoon..the skies cleared and we witnessed a rainbow so neon bright that we almost couldn't believe it was real... win some lose some.

Slinging at the camera

It's hard to find volunteers for this, but not impossible.  The guys running the paragliding in the background told me I could fly with a new pilot for a discount.  Discount paragliding...hmm...  kind of like amateur dentistry...

Ti Ranga Projectile

Going for an imitation of the Indian flag here...the "Tiranga" hindi...or maybe Sanscrit for "three colors".  But it was a mistake to go for a single row of white, made the closing look like an eye sore.

trichrome projectiles

these three colors are great except that the middle band is a bit too think... I will have to try only two rows for these.

trichrome up close...

though the rows are even since the middle rows have more stitches te effect is not stripes but spots... unless by "stripes" you mean a ping pong table is white with green stripes.

diachromes projectiles

lookin spiffy... almost ready for sale.

Towards a more comfortable wooden-bead handle knot.

This handle knot is actually a modified sheep shank where the two wooden beads occupy the two outermost of the three loops used in this knot.  I used to close the knot with a fisherman's knot on the stay side.  I found that this rubbed too much while slinging and that without the fisherman's knot on top, this beaded handle is much more comfortable.  Always innovating so you can... slingmoore.

Trifecta

Sometimes you just get it right.  Bright colors will be easy to find in places where they otherwise might get lost.  Now that the design is solidified... it's time to mass produce. 

Slingmoore

where's the closing?

You, my friend, are looking at it.  Now a close inspection reveals a small divet where the interior closing knot pulls on the seam a bit too much.  But contrast this with my first closing attempts...

tricolor inspires...

...the next generation of projectiles.  The rainbow dude from a couple of posts ago taught me that scraps have potential.  I crocheted up to a twleve- stitch row with a yellow scrap piece that could not have been used on other patterns.  Then two rows of a green and a single row of blue.  When joined the blue ends up with a double row.  Downside is it required some careful knot splicing to keep the knots inside the ball and still secure through what is bound to be a lifetime of being slammed against walls trees and other hard objects.

tricolor pics

I was wrong Rainbow Scrap Projectile Rocks

though a bit knotty due to the knots... its a pretty good one... think I will try another multicolor... What do I know eh?

The Rainbow Scrap Projectile

sometimes... it's just too ugly to even bother filling it... I like the colors but its made from scraps and... I mean do I even have to say it?  It turns out later I stuffed it, leaving the straggly strings everywhere, and my boys loved this ball above all others for it's sheer oddness.  I ended up losing it in the bamboo grove next to my house.  Years later, when the bamboo was harvested, one of the workers brought this one and a half dozen others and put them on my front step.  

clean profile

slightly new closing yields a tighter profile... it's more secure too... and of course...cornfed.

Cornfed Projectiles

after a small break... ballistic crochet is trying corn-stuffed sling projectiles... perks include popcorn upon landing in a fire.

Slingmoore... Sewn Slings?

Here at Slingmoore we are currently experimenting with a sewn version of the spring double tucks.  Many questions remain as to the longevity of such an innovation.  But one thing's for sure... it looks awesome!  The non-black paracord color is called "holly jolly" and I was so glad when I ran out of it.

It's time to admit that I've gone ballistic

to admit that I have a problem... and need some help.  I actually have a box full of crochet sling projectiles... maybe I should get back into the sling game eh?

string stuffed projectile

In a house in the middle of India somewhere I found myself close to finishing sewing a seam with no beans of any kind and no shops nearby... But I did have extra string.  Turns out, though far lighter they are much harder and pack a sting at higher velocities as my friend was eager to demonstrate on me.