HOW TO MAKE A PLACEMAT
SHOPPING LIST
20 x 3m lengths of 3-4mm thick cotton string, such as 100% recycled cotton string from Airedale Yarns (airedaleyarns.co.uk) Old metal clothes hanger Sharp scissors Comb Final piece measures around 28 x 52cm
1 Tie 20 3m-long strings onto a metal hanger using the lark’s head knot. Leave 2-3mm between them.
2 Leave a space of about 5cm below the lark’s head knots and, starting from the left, take four strings and make a square knot. Make another with the next four strings. Continue tying until you have a row of 10 square knots.
3 Next, make a row of nine square knots. Starting from the left, take strings 3 and 4 from the first knot and strings 1 and 2 from the one next to it to make a square knot. Continue to the end of the row. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have five rows of square knots (the last row will have 10).
4 Next, leave a space of 2-3cm and follow step 3 to make a new row of nine square knots. Then, leaving a space of 2-3cm, make a row of 10 square knots.
5 Repeat step 4 until you have 12 rows, finishing with a row that is made up of 10 knots.
6 Now make a row of 10, nine, 10, nine and 10 square knots without any gaps between the rows to finish your design.
7 Cut the lark’s head knots, as shown, to remove the placemat from the hanger.
8 Fold your placemat in half over the hanger and cut the strings on each end to the desired length, making sure they all match. Comb the ends to create a soft, feathery fringe to finish.