Success! On my third attempt I had good success with whoopies for both ends of my hammock. The trick for me was discovering that the direction I was threading the Amsteel was important. See below:

In the picture above, working from left to right tends to open the braiding of the Amsteel while working from right to left tends to close it up. I was effectively working from the wrong direction and making it difficult to open up the Amsteel. Once I took advantage of the directional nature of the Amsteel making the whoopies was as easy as some people have made it sound.

No doubt for some of you my explanation about the directional nature of Amsteel is obvious. However, in all the descriptions and all the videos that I've seen about making whoopie slings I have never seen that factor identified.

Now for the kicker: for those of you with strong stomachs here is a link to my gallery where you can see a photo of the right hand and wrist I used to do my whoopies. Truly, if I can make whoopie slings two weeks after chopping off my finger and doing a DIY carpal tunnel release anyone can (I mean anyone can make whoopie slings--I don't recommend the stuff I did with my hand).