Bath Mat

A bath mat seemed the perfect next project for my peg loom.

I grabbed a fatigued bath towel and used my handy
razor thingiflopper to remove the bound ends.


This would have been a snap, except there's apparently
a dull spot in the thingiflopper, so it wasn't entirely severing the strips.

But it was providing a straight line for scissor cuts.
Okay, we'll go with that.


Enter the WOW scissors.


I indelibly penned MOM on them, so no one else would use them and threatened all with bodily harm, if they did.  Okay, not the bodily harm part, but you can be sure my eyes were pokin' out and my voice stern, when I said MINE!  DON'T TOUCH!

One of the clown kids noticed turning them upside-down
produced WOW, thus their name.

Yeah, Wow, don't touch my scissors.


Then I began machine-piecing strips of bath towel, which is what I should have done with the strips of fabric for the first rug, instead of using the splice-and-slip method.  That's not what it's called, but it suits me, so I'll call it that.  That method of joining strips created quite a number of ragtag tails which had to be slipped and stitched into the woven rug, when it came off the loom.  I'd do better this time.

I placed one strip atop another at right angles.


Then I stitched diagonally from corner to corner.



Trimmed the seam to about a quarter inch.

Next, I marched myself (and a long stream of terry towel strips) to the living room and pegged the loom.  I made up that pegged the loom thing, but it makes me sound like I know all manner of weaving terms, so I like it.  I poked pegs in holes to the desired width of my bath mat, warped them with cotton yarn, and wove the rug while talking on the phone with Little Loo, who when I was finished weaving, had to listen to me whine about the rug not being as big as I'd wanted.

Loo and I ended our conversation, I unraveled the rug, and I marched back to the kitchen to repeat the entire stripping process with a second towel.

Wove the stinky little bath mat a second time, now twice the depth (not pictured here).
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Now I'll let you in on a little blogging secret: this post has been sitting in draft form for several days, and the bath mat has been languishing in a basket in the living room, still attached to the loom pegs.  Just sure that tomorrow I was going to tie it off and put it into use — several tomorrows in a row — I'm deciding today that it may just be The Bath Mat That Almost Was.  My excuse is about feeling the need to knit, then feeling the need to make a pieced tablecloth for the dining table, then meeting the need to tend some unexpected issues, which as I type are the causes of a bath mat tied to wooden pegs, a half-knitted baby blanket, and a would-be tablecloth in a heap in the middle of the kitchen table, waiting to be topstitched.  They have a name for this and prescribe pills.  I call it normal life, multi-tasking, no chance for boredom, flat-out wonderful.  Keep your stinkin' pills.  I'm having a great time.

Photos of bath mat, tablecloth, and perhaps even baby blanket forthcoming...Lord willing, and I don't get lost in a jigsaw puzzle.  ºÜº

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.  III John 1:4

It's a Rug

But first, here's the cushy proof for you, Cousin Annie:


I had to move the fat cat out of the way before I could finish the finish work:


Now I've never crocheted a stitch (chain, sc, dc) in my life,
but here I am with the whompin' big crochet hook my mother gave me.
Is this Size Stupid, for beginners?


Look at me, all actin' like I'm Queen Crochet and know what I'm doing:


Woooo, looks like someone can at least snag ugly yarn with a crochet hook:


I know you're in there.
Get Out!


It offends me, so I'm lopping it off.
That's Biblical, you know:


There.


It's a rug:


On the floor:

Okay, it's not quite as diminutive as it appears in the photo, but if I had it to do over again (perish the thought), I'd probably add 6" all around.  In fact, it was intended to be about a foot larger both directions, but since I didn't really know what I was doing, this is what I got.  Maybe we could saw a few inches off the table, which is WAY going to happen before I weave another rug this size...or larger.

Anyway, I'm happy.  It is all about making me happy.  *snort* 

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  ~ 1 John 4:10

Rug - It's Growing

Funny how things have a way of working themselves out.  Initially disappointed that this blog layout won't accept larger photos than the old one, now I can use the photos to help stop the stringing of my words from one side of the horizon to the other.  This photo was captured by Son4 the afternoon of the 6^th, and truth be known, by the time this post publishes, I expect the entire rug will be off the loom, for on the morning of the 7^th, it's draping far over the edge of the table, and there are only 3 more strips to weave.

What you see here will actually be longer than it appears, for this maiden voyage in peg loom weaving has taught me that progress really scrunches what's come before.  That would be keen, if one wanted a 30-pound, 3-foot long rug, but one doesn't.  She'll adjust the scrunching when it comes off the loom and have a 4' x 5' rug.  Cool.  ºÜº

Are you working on any indoor projects during these frosty months?

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.  ~Psalm 91:1-4

Favorite Thing - My Peg Loom

First, this new layout doesn't allow me larger photos.  That is NOT my favorite thing.



Okay, I'd meant to snap a photo of the nekked, finished loom, which was under construction when first I wrote of it, but I was so eager to weave, I forgot to do it.  That's okay, because it's a tad more interesting in use anyway.  I was amazed by how quickly the weaving moves right along ... if one has the foresight to make and piece all the fabric strips before she begins weaving.  This one didn't have that foresight.  Not long after these were taken, I stopped weaving and began assembling strips.  I may be ready to weave again by nightfall today.



Favorite Thing:  My Peg Loom

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  ~1 John 1:5-7