I’ve seen these nice recycled garden hose mats online. Some, like the blog Our Graden Path, use zip ties and make very attractive mats. I’ve always been fascinated by knots and was wondering if I could make something like Martha Stewart’s very attractive braided door mat. In other words I’m trying to make an ocean plait garden hose mat. Martha’s instructions weren’t super, so instead I used animatedknots.com . I was too hungry to make any progress at the plot, so I took the hose with me on the bus and decided to do some homework.
Braiding was like wrestling with a cobra. Step 11 in the tutorial was crucial; notice how you don’t weave (over-under) yet, but that the end crosses twice (over-over). The weaving is hardest in the beginning, the shorter the remaining end gets, the easier it becomes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a loose weave at first; you go back and tighten it in several rounds afterwards. I’m exhausted now, but it looks like it will turn out if I give it another half an hour of attention.
Not quite ready yet – but the idea will work out.
Practicing with rope and shoe string.
Don’t give up!
Les mots 