Navajo "Golden Eagle"

Today I was reading "String Games of the Navajo", from Volume 7 of the Bulletin of the International String Figure Association, and I fell in love with the "Golden Eagle" figure. Compared to some figures, it isn't particularly striking to look at:

But it's not so much the presentation I fell in love with, as it was the process. It has a really novel weaving step (novel, at least, as far as my own experience with string figures goes). Even the opening is novel, with the index reaching all the way around and under the figure to pick up the near thumb string. Here are the full instructions (rephrased in my own words):

1. Opening A.
2. Move 2 away from you, past 5f, then under 5f and all other strings. Hook down 1n and return, releasing 1. (I love that opening; I'm definitely going to experiment with that to see what else can be done from it.)
   
3. 1 moves through the lower 2 loop from above, under all strings, picks up 5f and returns.
4. (Here we begin the novel weaving step. It's harder to describe than it is to perform, so pay attention!) 1 hooks down upper 2n, letting the original 1 loop slip off.
5. 1 moves under 2 loops, and over 5n, hooking 5n down and through the 1 loop. Move 1 below the old 1 loop (originally was upper 2n).
6. 1 picks up, on back, the old 1 loop (originally was upper 2n), releasing the 5n loop from 1, and returns.
7. Release 2 and extend with fingers pointing away from you.

After that last step, the figure forms (as if by magic) from what previously looked like a tangle of string. Love it! I also really want to analyze that last weave step (steps 4-6, above) to see if I can understand what's going on. It's too novel to let pass with a simple "ooh, pretty!"

Lastly, the article in the Bulletin mentions that another name for this figure is "Road Going into the Distance Between Two Mountains." I really love that interpretation. It opens all kinds of possibilities for this figure, both from a story-telling perspective, as well as simply "wow, that's deep".