FINALLY- I got to finish a project, even though it was "just" a hot pad.

I always make my professors a hot pad of the colors of their choice. I made this for my Spanish teacher. Even though the "perfect storm" of ill health which beset me and my wife at the same time means I've given up that class, I still wanted to make the trivet for the teacher.

The hanging hook is the best I've made yet... I used a series of half hitch knots (which are also the ones I discovered work great for making an easy rug start) and then used a "basket weave" stitch to tuck the end under.

The other thing which went very well was how I "signed" it on the back. I do this with most of my rugs, but like the hanging hook, I never quite do it the same way twice.

With both, though, I think I'm on to something which works pretty well. Its in my nature to always experiment and look for ways to make a system better, but... once you've perfected one system, you get to move along and perfect another one!

If you look closely (or click for the full sized view) at the bottom picture, you'll notice I also showed the size in METRIC for my international readers.

Starting a rug using overhand and half hitch knots

I'm always learning new things about this craft, just by paying attention to what its telling me. This morning I was tying off the end of a rug start I decided to convert to a trivet (you'll see it in the original untied form in a post later today or tomorrow) so when I pulled the stitch tight then created a hanging loop, I decided to just continue knotting the rest of the strip above the knot which formed the far side of the hanging loop, using your basic half hitch knot (which is also commonly though somewhat inaccurately called a slip knot.)

When I looked at the finished product, I realized this would form a terrific rug start, and is much easier than braiding or chain stitching as well as providing a good sturdy start which would hold up no matter how much tension you put on your stitches.
Below is a picture of the result.

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Playing with the concept more, I discovered another and possibly easier method- the overhand knot. This may well be the easiest most fool proof method of starting a rug yet! Take a LONG piece of your center color strip and just tie a series of overhand knots by folding it at the center and continuing to tie knot after knot until you have a start long enough for your needs (6" or shorter for a round rug, 6"+ for a an oval rug). When you're almost out of strip, either create one chain stitch or double the strip back through the end slit to create a thumb loop, and proceed with the start as with a chain stitch or braid.

Experiment- shower curtain hot pad shaped like a heart

A neighbor was throwing away a shower curtain, so I tried cutting it up and making a hot pad from it as a way to see if it was worth working into a future project. As you can see, it is quite lovely, but the mat'l is hard to cut, and frays a lot. I'll have to remember the "mistake" I made to have it come out heart shaped like this.