LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne
[Dickey 1928] doesn't include a method for this figure. Dickey suspects it may be a mistake for the "Fish in a Dish" stage of Cat's Cradle, but I haven't been able to find a reasonable mistake in the process of Cat's Cradle that can produce it.
The following single-player method is my own reconstruction:
1. Position 1.
2. Put a twist in the loop by giving the right-hand loop a full twist toward you, and then put the string back on the right thumb and little finger in Position 1. This results in a figure that looks like Position 1, but the near and far strings hook over each other in the middle instead of going straight across.
3. Bringing the hands together, transfer the right thumb loop to the left thumb, and then insert the right thumb from below into both left thumb loops.
4. Similarly, bringing the hands together, transfer the right little finger loop to the left little finger, and then insert the right little finger from below into both left little finger loops.
5. With the fingers of the right hand, lift the left palmar string off the left thumb and little fingers (leaving the other loops in place), and then put it back on the thumb and little fingers (in Position 1) above the remaining loops on those fingers.
6. Lift the lower left thumb loop off the left thumb, past the upper loop, and let it drop. Likewise, lift the lower left little finger loop off the left little little finger, and drop. Do not pull the strings tight.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 on the other hand, and pull the strings tight.
A little manual rearranging may be necessary to make the central hook visible.
Though I haven't been able to find a reasonable mistake in Cat's Cradle that makes this figure, there are a few unreasonable mistakes that can make it. For example, player 1 makes Ace of Diamonds using the last method, but in either step 2 or step 4 (but not both), makes the half-twist away instead of toward the body. Then player 2 (by picking up the crosses from below) makes Cat's Eye, and player 1 makes Fish in a Dish. (What makes this method unreasonable, of course, is that nobody ever starts out Cat's Cradle this way. I haven't found any way to to get the necessary string crossings by starting Cat's Cradle in anything resembling the normal manner.)
[Dickey 1928] has two figures called pauma wai ("waterpump"), but neither of them matches this figure.
LLX > Neil Parker > String Figures > Jayne