Welcome Mat, From Bale Twine

Bale twine is a wasted resource. It gets thrown away daily on farms all over the world. I save mine and reuse it wherever I can. I made rope with it a while back. Check out the Instructable here.

All you need to make it is twine, a rug hooking tool and scissors. A lot of patience will help as well.

I liked my rope. I thought it looked nice hanging in the barn. The wife on the other hand, isn't as keen on rope hanging in a barn. So, what can I do with a beautiful rope that will please my beautiful wife? A WELCOME MAT! Sorry for yelling. I just thought it was a great idea.

I laid out the rope in an oval to see how it might look. I decided on the approximate size. With the length of the inner core measured I grasped the first bend and got to work. I used the latch and hook tool to pull a piece of twine through the rope. The tail end needed to be weaved in while making sure the braid laid flat on the table.

The tip of the long strand will be with me for the duration of this project. I poke the latch tool through the rope, trying to go through the center of the braid's width. This way the braid should lie flat. I place the tip of the strand across the hook and close the latch as I pull it through the strands of the rope. I need to make sure no other pieces of the twine get caught in the hook. I pull it through then pull the entire piece through the rope and snug it up. Then I repeat the process. Over and over and over and over.......... You get the idea.

As I go along I'm beginning to see how nice this is going to be. Much prettier than a rope hanging in the barn. As I rounded the bend I decided to hide the tail end of the strand into the rope itself before starting a new piece.

Now that the end has been hidden within the rope, I snip the extra bits off. I weave in another piece of twine and continue sewing. This is more work than I had expected. But its coming along nicely.

As I weave in the tail end and start another new strand, I see the development of the piece. I'm pleased with the result, but frustrated by the huge pile of rope still on the table.

After pushing the pile of rope off the table, I felt a bit better. Not seeing how much work is ahead is nice. I should have done that earlier. My strand ran out just as I was getting to the end. I had to start another piece to finish off.

I weaved the final end into the mat and stood back to admire my creation.

Now where do I put it. Hmm, I think I'll leave that up to the wife.