I somewhat like that idea of the whipping. On another part of the rope, I would cut the rope and tie a bend (e.g., Butterfly Bend, Fisherman Bend or whatever). The bend would make the lanyard readily adjustable and allow easy changing of items.

A downfall is that if the whipping breaks out in the field (not too unlikely), then you'll have to tie a bend to join the rope. That defeats the purpose.