Rope Door Mat

We've had an ocean plait mat in front of our kitchen sink for over a year now.  While the ocean plait is a nice mat, I have always wanted something that is a little more substantial and that is rectangular shape.  There are plenty of larger mats in the Ashley Book of Knots. For this mat, I took the pattern out of Ashley (2272), redrew it using AutoCAD and created the step-by-step tying grid that is shown in the attached drawing to make it easier to follow.  The redrawn grid helps to set up the mat so that the spacing is closer to the competed mat, which means less time fairing it- Fairing can be a lengthy task on a mat this large.  Note that I purposely left some space between each set of passes-* Manila rope is made of natural abaca fiber. When it gets wet, the fiber will swell which will cause the strands to twist and tighten, thereby causing the mat to shrink, especially once it drys out.  If I use the mat outdoors, the spaces will allow for all of that to happen and the spaces will close.  I used a peg board with some peg board hooks to make it easier to create this mat and keep it relatively straight.  Spring clamps and weights are helpful to keep strands in place.  This mat pattern is also presented in "Knot Craft" by Des Pawson, with a similar step-by-step method for tying the mat.  While I didn't use the instructions in Knot Craft for actually tying the mat, I did find a method in the book for splicing the ends into the adjacent strands.  I've traditionally seized my mat ends to the adjacent strand, either with cordage or more recently with zip/cable ties.  However, using a splice makes the ends minimally visible, and therefore the mat can be flipped over and used as a double sided mat. A fid makes the splicing go faster, but it can be done without.  This mat was tied using a little less than 150 feet of 1/2 inch manila rope.
*A warning about manila rope- Manila rope is treated with mineral oil which may cause discoloration of the floor on which it sits. Consider the surface on which you are putting the mat, or I would suggest getting a pad.

Half Hitch Mat

I was reading a recent post on Knot Heads World Wide (KHWW) when I came across a tutorial for this half hitched mat.  I have a bunch of sisal rope around and I thought this would make an interesting trivet or table center piece.  At the end of the day it is probably a better table center as I think it's a bit to big to be a trivet.  Perhaps with some smaller, softer material (I used 1/4 inch sisal) it would make a better trivet.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, with some stiff material or cane this knot can be formed to make a basket or bowl.  I had to use a bunch of weights to hold down the various loops as I tied this, and at one point I missed a crossing- I didn't figure that out until I was doubling the knot, so I had to back it up quite a bit.  Mistakes aside, it really didn't take too long and turned fairly well.  If you get this down you could probably tie it in under an hour for sure.  The pattern reminds me of Celtic knotting as is referenced in the KHWW post.

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.

Ocean Plait Rope Door Mat

This is a rope door mat I made from a very simple knot called an ocean plait.  This knot can be found in most books that cover decorative knots, as well as many sources on the web.  A really good description can be found on a web chart available from the International Guild of Knot Tyers.  It starts from an overhand knot where you make two bights where the knot crosses, and then twist the bights.  From there you feed through the two tails.  I had to make the knot very large to start and then spent substantial time snugging it down.  The final mat measures about 18 inches x 30 inches, perhaps a bit small for a door mat, but functional nonetheless.  I used 100 feet of 1/2" diameter sisal rope for this project.  I would suggest putting some kind of non-slip on the bottom of the mat as is slides around on my wood floors.
**For a larger and more rectangular mat, please feel free to visit this post. Thanks**