Rope Trivets

I spent the week out of state for the holidays.  Just prior to leaving, I made these trivets for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  The knot for these trivets was taken from The Marlinspike Sailor and is often used a a "thump mat" for protecting the deck of a boat from the repeated banging of rigging tackle.  Interestingly, I did not find the same knot in the Ashley Book of Knots although I wouldn't be surprised if it was in there somewhere.  These trivets were tied using 1/4 inch sisal rope from my local hardware store.  Sisal rope is relatively cheap.  The draw back with it is it tends to have a bunch of fuzz hanging off of it as you can see in the picture.  In the past, I have successfully run a lit match over sisal to get rid of the fuzz and clean up a mat.  These took all of twenty minutes each to tie and tighten.  They would also look good in cotton rope.  Synthetics cannot be used because the trivet would melt if put in contact with a hot pot.