Soft summer breezes will soonbe blowing across our winter-chilled land. What better way to celebrate than to sling a hammock and take a well-earned rest from the demands of the snow shovel?

Whiling away the balmy hours in floating beds was a practice brought to the world 500 years ago from the Caribbean by the Portuguese. As the location for hammocks changed, so, too, did their use. In Africa the wealthy took a liking to being carried around in them. From the 16th century on they were used by the British, Dutch and French navies.

The ever-practical admiralties of these warring countries needed a way to cram up to 800 crewmen into each of their gun ships—hammocks were the perfect solution. The fact that the sailors had no more than 14 inches between them did not bother the authorities in the slightest.

The fates of hammocks swung once more in the early 20th century, when the swinging beds became the furniture of choice in many country gardens just before the First World War. The sturdy canvas of a naval hammock was replaced with the delicate mesh of their Caribbean precursors. Hammocks became something to be cherished in places where a cool breeze is rare.

Here in Atlantic Canada, where it can turn chilly in a second, a solidly woven hammock is still a blessing. Nowadays, some of us even sling them indoors on hooks so strategically placed that the breeze from an open window is perfectly located in summer while the rising warmth from a crackling wood stove can bathe us through the winter storms.

Importantly, too, hammocks are easy to make and fun to decorate. Here is how.

Making a Single Hammock
Choose 61⁄2 feet of good, sturdy fabric. The fabric, which should be 31⁄2– to 4–feet wide, should have a tight weave and little stretch. Hem the edges. Turn the top and bottom to make a strong, thick band 11⁄2–2 inches wide. If this band seems flimsy, insert an additional strip to strengthen it.

Once your bands are securely sewn, mark the positions for five evenly spaced grommets across the top and bottom. There are several types of grommets you can choose. Metal ones (like those shown in these photographs) can be purchased at a craft or hardware store. They come with instructions on how to insert them. You can also use the hand-sewing option. Bind the edges of holes, cut in the canvas band, with strong waxed linen thread, rather like you would in making a buttonhole. The third option is the rope-loop choice. In this option your sewn bands are not punctured by more than a good strong needle. The important thing to remember when making your choice is that the grommets have to support your weight without tearing.

1. Begin by finding a rough old wall and three good-sized nails. Hammer them in a row, 3 inches apart, at shoulder height.
2.     Select 5 of the 9-foot-long ropes. Gather them into a bundle with their ends lined up.
3.     Find the centre of the bundle and hang it on the centre of the three nails.
4.     Grasp the left-hand side of the bundle approximately 3 inches down from the nail. Tie the end of the string tightly around the bundle.
5.     Now grasp the right-hand bundle 3 inches down from the nail and wrap the string around at this point. Draw the left and right bundles firmly together and secure with a figure-eight wrap of the string around and between them. You have now made a loop. You can remove it from the nail and work it on your lap.
6.     Begin wrapping up the left-hand side of the loop with the string, pulling each wrap tightly and pushing it firmly down against the previous one. Continue down the right-hand side to the figure eight.
 7.     Complete the harness loop by wrapping the string around and around the base of the loop (both left and right bundles). Finish the end by passing it under the last wrap and pulling it tight.
8.     Repeat steps 2 through 7 to make a harness loop for the other end of your hammock.

Braiding the Harness
1.     Hang the harness loop back on the centre nail. Flatten the cluster of ropes dangling down.
2.     You are now going to make what weavers call a shed. Starting on the right-hand side and working to the left, alternate the ropes to the front and rear, using your right hand to hold them apart. Once this is done there should be an equal number of ropes in front of and behind your hand. The space in between, where your hand is, is called the shed.
3.    Look to see whether the rope on the far right is in rear or front of the shed. If it is in the rear, take the furthest right hand rope in the front of the shed and pass it to the rear, bringing the furthest right-hand rear rope to the front. If the far right rope is a front shed rope, reverse this order of alternating ropes.
4.     Continue this exchange of front for rear ropes until you have worked all the way across the harness. You have now established securely alternating ropes between your front and rear rows.
5.     Now take the rope that is furthest to the right and pass it through the shed, out the left-hand side. Drape it on the left-hand nail.
6.     Take the rope that is furthest to the left and pass it through the shed also. Drape it on the right-hand nail. (Note: one of these ropes should be from the front row and one from the rear row.)
7.     You are now going to reverse the shed. Simply put, you are going to move the front ropes to the rear and the rear ropes to the
front one at a time, maintaining the alternating order.
8.     Repeat from step 5 until all but two ropes are woven. Tie these together at the base of the braid.
9.     Unhook the harness from the nail and lay it on the floor. Adjust the tension to make the braid lay flat then pair the ropes into five bundles: one for each of the hammock’s grommets.

Attach the Harness
In order to make the hammock curve properly—and therefore not tip you on the ground when you try to get in it—you must tie off the harness with a curve in place.

1.     Line up the hammock body with the harness. There are going to be two ropes for each grommet.
2.     Working from the right- to the left-hand side, thread both ropes from front to rear through the matching grommet. Leave everything untied for now.
3.     Once all the ropes are threaded, align the harness braid with the centre grommet. Gently tug each pair of ropes until the hammock and harness are properly aligned.
4.     Without shifting the position of the pieces, tie the centre grommet ropes onto themselves with two half hitches.
5.    The next two grommets are tied off the same way: realign everything and then tug the pair of ropes until they are an inch shorter than the centre ropes were. Tie them with two half hitches.
6.    The outer two grommets are also tied off the same way except that they must be 2 inches shorter than the centre ropes.
7.     Grasp the harness loop and lift the hammock body off the floor. It should hang in a gentle curve. If not, eyeball the tension and adjust the harness accordingly.
8.    Repeat the process for the other end.

You can choose to tidy off the ends of the ropes once all necessary adjustments have been made, but I recommend that you wait for a while until your weight has added its own brand of adjustment. Once you have completed the practical stuff, it is time to go wild with your decorations. Braids and fringes, tassels and bells, all are appropriate.

A couple of hefty, threaded hooks from the hardware store can have you slinging your hammock and swinging away in just a couple of minutes. You can also tie your new dream-time bed around the trunks of a couple of trees, to the uprights on your deck, to anything strong enough to take it.