Finished Object: Tedium Bathmat
(In situ pictures are impossible, as the bathroom lacks natural light.)
Pattern: Loosely based on Absorba from Mason-Dixon Knitting
Size: 23 x 35 inches
Yarn: Ironstone Warehouse Flake Cotton, colors 7167, 1552, 680, 1203, and 5659
Yardage: 10 balls of 328 yds each = 3,280 yards
Yarn Source: Mass Ave. Knit Shop
Needles: US size 10.5 circular, bamboo and Denise
Gauge: 14 stitches and 22 rows over 4 inches in garter stitch
Notes: My more astute readers may have figured out by now that this bathmat was not a labor of love. It was my oldest unfinished object. I bought the yarn for it nearly a year ago while visiting Indiana, knit the center block and first two rounds or so, and then fizzled out. For a while, it lived in a tub under the bed in the guest room, and it made me feel guilty whenever I glimpsed it — which was fairly often, since I keep all of my yarn under that bed.
I am not the sort of person who doesn’t finish things. Sometimes, I decide that they won’t work out and I frog them, but this was not one of those cases. There was nothing wrong with how the bathmat was coming out. I just didn’t like knitting it. This was not the pattern’s fault, as I really only used the pattern for inspiration. I’m not sure what yarn it called for, what size needles it recommended, or how large the finished bathmat was supposed to be. What I decided to do was to hold five strands of 100 percent cotton together and knit them on size 10.5 bamboo needles with shoddy joins, and this was a poor idea. The stitches caught on the joins constantly, it hurt my wrists to do the binding off and picking up, and the knitting was just generally no party. No wonder I abandoned it.
Once I finally rescued the bathmat from its long sojourn under the bed, I forced myself to work on it for ten minutes a day. Then I ran out of yarn, which was supposed to be my signal that I was finished, except that the bathmat was not nearly big enough. So I ordered three more balls of yarn from Mass Ave. Knit Shop (which they sent speedily) and then trudged through those, too.
The last fifteen rows or so went a great deal faster than the earlier rows because I switched to some recently acquired Denise needles, and the better joins and longer cords made the knitting go more smoothly. This proves that the main reason the project sucked was that I was too lazy/cheap to buy another set of needles for it.
I persisted in knitting this because I wanted the bathmat, and I am certainly pleased with the final product, which is doing an excellent job of making the bathroom look slightly less blah while simultaneously absorbing water. Still, I don’t plan to make another bathmat any time soon — though a small curtain for the bathroom window is a distinct possibility.
May 16th, 2007 at 6:03 am
That flake cotton is beautiful! I’m not sure I’d be able to drip on it.
May 16th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Mr. Bathmat aka Tedium is finished and a big success. I bet it looks great in your bathroom. I like your approach to things, your blog, your designs, your photos, your creativity. After reading this entry, I picked up my Fair Isle Vest today in the spirit of “finishing things”. You are such an inspiration! I’m actually blocking in time for daily knitting and putting it first. And I take it back, mea culpa, mea culpa, you are not just as delusional as the rest of us….you simply are superior!
May 17th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Congratulations on finally getting it done! I agree that if the yarn is not good to work it, the best and most exciting project begins to seem really really tedious.
May 19th, 2007 at 9:35 am
When I saw Senor Tedium on SlogAlong I thought to myself “okayyyy…. some people knit the weirdest things. A bath mat. No way… and an unattractive one too..” But now, I’ve seen the picutres, and I’m sitting here thinking, “What a lovely bath mat. I’d like one like it.” And am thinking how nice it would look in the “public” bathroom where everyone would see it. And deep in my mind, where the thought hides so I don’t hear it, I may be thinking of knitting one myself.
See what an FO shot can do? It’s gorgeous.
Converted….