So, A Needle Pulling Thread...

Oh, I forgot to mention that I've been doing a little sewing lately, to give my crochet hands a rest. I thinkI'm getting arthritis in my not so young age. I used the Jan Andrea directions to make myself not one, but 2 ring slings! First I went to my local tack shop where the nice redneck, oh I guess he was a cowboy, not a redneck, gave me 4 rings for free, andI got to buy my froufrou dogfood there, and the cuteLab puppy there kissed the Manling all over his face and I didn't even mind. Then I discovered I had more than enough fabric to begin, using two fairly substantial cottons or woven fabrics(maybe one was a twill?) . I then had to learn how to make a French seam because I had a bit too little of the lining (red cherry print) to match the outer black&white cherry print - might as well go rockabilly-hippie, eh? The French seam took me about an hour and I even had to use my ultimate nemesis of small appliances - the iron. Next I sewed and sewed and pleated and sewed and finally assembled the damn thing with the rings only to discover the 30" wide, now 2-ply fabric was waaaay to thick to overlap and sew on my machine. I hand sewed in the rings. Total time was about 8 hours. I put it on, only to discover the rings are too small in diameter to truly adjust the sling so I have to rip out the whole area, get new ones and re-do. Ugh. It seemed pretty comfortable though. I just will procrastinate until forever.

I had 2 rings left and decided to make another sling for in the meantime (plus my stroller had a flat tire) using this thinner definitely non-natural fiber crazy print that screeeeams "hippie". This sling would also be reversable but no French seam was needed, although I did cut the fabric in half prematurely so I had to sew all 4 sides like 8 times instead of just 3 sides and flip it right side out. Sew and sew and pleat and once again handsew in the rings. Total time about 2 hours including handsewing. This one is not so comfortable feeling but can be adjusted. Sigh.

I think I'm an idiot for waiting so long to try to sling the Manling. My friend Jessica has been slinging her 2 month old baby since birth and has made several of the Jan Andrea slings, so I think it'd probably have been easier if I started when he was a tiny 6 pounder. He's only 20 lbs but I walked to the library with him in the 2nd sling and my shoulder and neck felt like hell. I even trouble-shot my positioning over at the babywearer site before I left and I don't know what's wrong.The Manling loved being able to see and communicate with me more than just cruising passively in the stroller though, so I'd like to try again.