Читать книгу How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girl's Handy Book - Adelia B. Beard - Страница 42

Table of Contents

which is not difficult.

Stake.

Peg.

First procure two pieces of cotton rope, three-sixteenths of an inch in size, each thirty-four feet long, costing about twenty-five cents apiece. Then one and a half pound of hammock twine or macrimé cord, No. 24, which will not cost more than fifty cents. Next, two lengths of cotton rope for guy-ropes, each five feet, price, both included, ten cents; making the total amount $1.10 for a strong, firm, tennis net which will prove serviceable and last many a season.

Runner.	The Fid.
Runner and Guy-rope.

The other materials necessary are all home-made. These consist of two stakes, each five feet long (Fig. 12). Any kind of a strong pole, when sharpened at one end and a notch cut at the other, will answer the purpose. Four pegs, each one foot long (Fig. 13). These may be easily made of old broomsticks. Four runners (Fig. 14), each five inches long, one and a quarter wide, and about half an inch thick, with holes bored near each end large enough to allow the guy-rope (Fig. 15) to pass through. A fid or mesh-stick of any kind of wood (Fig. 16), about a foot or ten inches long, with circumference measuring three inches. A hammock-needle (Fig. 17), nine or ten inches long and one wide, which may be bought for ten cents, or whittled out of a piece of ash or hickory by some kind brother. Tassels are not necessary, though it is much better to have them, as they make the top line of the net more distinct and add to its appearance. Make about forty bright-colored tassels of worsted, or bits of flannel cut in very narrow strips, three inches long, allowing ten or twelve strips to each tassel. Commence your tennis net by first threading the needle; take it in the left hand, and use the thumb to hold the end of the cord in place while looping it over the tongue (see Fig. 18); pass the cord down under the needle to the opposite side, and catch it over the tongue. Repeat this until the needle is full.

Hammock-needle.

Needle Threaded

Knots.

Next, take a piece of rope thirty-four feet long, and make a long loop in one end, tying the knot so that it can readily be untied again. Throw the loop over some convenient hook or door-knob (Fig. 19) with the knot at the knob or hook. Tie the cord on the needle to the loop, place the fid or mesh-stick under the cord close to the loop (Fig. 20), with the thumb on the cord to hold it in place (Fig. 25), while you pass the needle around the mesh-stick, and, with its point toward you, pass it through the loop from the top, bringing it over the mesh-stick. This will make the first half of the knot (Fig. 21). Pull this tight, holding it in place with the thumb while you throw the cord over your hand, which forms the loop as seen in Fig. 22. Then pass the needle from under through the loop, pulling it tight to fasten the knot. Hold it in place with the thumb, and repeat these movements for the next knot. Fig. 23 shows a number of these knots finished. A in Fig. 23 is a knot before it is drawn tight; B in Figs. 21, 22, 23 is the string that runs to the needle, C is the rope, and D is the mesh-stick. About two hundred and sixty-four of these knots or meshes will make the net the regular length, thirty-three feet.

In knitting across, the meshes will accumulate on the fid; shove them off to the left, a few at a time, to make space for others. When the desired number of meshes are finished to form the first row, shove them all off the fid, as shown in Fig. 24.

Begin the next row by again placing the fid under the cord (Fig. 24). Take up the first mesh, drawing it close to the mesh-stick, hold it in place with the thumb while throwing the cord over your hand, pass the needle on the left-hand side of the mesh from under through the loop (Fig. 25); pull this tight, and you will have tied the common knitting-knot. Repeat this with all the loops until the row is finished.

When it becomes necessary to thread or fill the needle, tie the ends of the cord with the knot shown in Fig. 26, which, when properly tightened, cannot slip. Wrap each end of the cord from the knot securely to the main cord with strong thread, to give the net a neat appearance.

Continue netting until the net is three feet wide. Then untie the rope, and spread the net by sliding the knots apart, and fasten the second rope to the bottom of the net by tying the rope securely to the first mesh with the cord on the needle; then carry the rope and cord to the next mesh, hold the rope, cord, and mesh firmly in place, and throw the cord over your hand, passing the needle down through the mesh under the rope and cord out through the loop (Fig. 27). Pull this tight, and continue in like manner, knitting each successive mesh to the rope until the net is all fastened on. Turn back the end of the rope and wrap it down neatly with strong string (Fig. 28). In the same way secure the other end, and also the ends of the first or top rope.

Fig. 26.

This completes the lawn-tennis net proper. The bright tassels can now be tied at intervals along the top of the net, and four pieces of twine fastened on each end of the net at equal distances apart. These are for tying the net to the poles (Fig. 29).

To erect the lawn-tennis net, plant the two poles firmly in the ground a little over thirty-three feet apart, tie the net to the poles, then drive in the pegs, two to each pole, about five feet from the pole (Fig. 30); slide a runner on each end of the two guy-ropes by first threading the rope through one of the holes in the runner, then pass the rope over the side down through the other hole and fasten it with a knot (Fig. 15). Next tie around the notch in the top of the poles the guy-ropes, with runners attached, and slip each loop made by the runner over each peg (Fig. 31), allowing the rope to fall in the groove A near the top of the peg; tighten the rope by pushing up the runners. The stakes are thus held in position by ropes running out to the pegs in the ground (Fig. 30).

Fig. 30.—The Home-Made Net.

Now we understand how to make and erect a lawn-tennis net; but what shall we do about the court? Of course, that must be all ready before we can set up the net. We must now learn how to lay out a