My wife and I spent most of the summer camping in Kansas. I slept in the tent for a while, but it was often too hot at night, then the inflatable mattress I was using wouldn't stay full enough to give me proper support.

We brought an ordinary poly rope hammock, which worked sortof ok. It left big marks on my back and was uncomfortable unless I put a towel behind me.

My wife broke her wrist the second day camping, so she found the hammock easier to get out of than getting up up off the ground wearing a cast.

I figured there had to be something better I could make myself and found Just Jeff's Hammock Camping site.

I'm still investigating different ways to make a hammock, but a place that sells fabric remnants gave me an idea. I looked at the different fabrics they had, and one kind caught my eye. I was looking for lightweight material for another purpose and what I found was rolls of raw silk for $3 a yard.

When I was at Cabella's in Kansas City a few weeks ago I picked up 100' of milspec paracord, figuring I could use it somehow.

It looks like I might be doing some camping this fall, so it would be nice to have an insulated hammock. I was also wondering if I couldn't somehow incorporate my sleeping bag into a hammock. When it got cold at night I slept in my sleeping bag in the hammock, and I had the best sleep I've ever had. It wasn't easy to get inside the sleeping bag without falling out of the hammock.