There's much ballyhoo about the fact that we're a passive society that prefers to watch things being made rather than make them ourselves.
For once, the ballyhoo may have a point; we do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time not wielding hammers and screwdrivers and other impressive tools of yore. (Hammer-wielders, you know we're not speaking to you; props.)
And learning the art of the knot, and how to build a full-on hammock? That's something best left to the professional hammockists, right? Au contraire. You can get your knot on, and find the joy in making summertime's Official Swingy Tree-Adjacent Lounger (tm), at the Santa Monica Museum of Art on Saturday, May 5.
The museum, in association with the creative, hands-on people of the Knowhow Shop, are inviting people to create a six-sided rope hammock at Bergamot Station's wee but wonderful People Park. (This is a short walk from the museum, if you've never been.) Kids 10 and up are welcome to participate in The Knotwork Workshop, so if you've been wanting to rouse your own young'uns from the couch, and have them work on something hands-on, this could be it.
Admission is ten bucks. The "engineering of knots" will be explained, which personally sends us to a happy place. Did you used to check out books on sailor's knots at your school library? We can't be the only ones, sitting in the corner, poring over knots while laughter from the playground rings through the doorway.
And, who knows? Maybe with this event as the springboard, you'll be on your way to making a hammock for your own porch or poolside. One knot can lead to a thousand.
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