"Knitting a Doormat"

Have you ever knitted twine on bamboo barbecue skewers with a wad of tape on each end to keep the rope from slipping off?

No, I hadn't either until yesterday.

Part of our project is to propose conservation and development solutions that rely as much as possible on local materials . When we needed screening for the trays of our solar dryer, we turned to our neighbors. We could find brass screen, PVC pipe, wood, metal, rope, and tons of reed/cattail harvest. We're incorporating all these parts into our dryer, and the knitted twine will make up one of the trays.

Challenges: Twine is stiff and scratchy. Bamboo skewers are skinny - making knitting tediously slow - and they are flimsy and super sharp on the ends (I already bit the tips off to dull them). I feel like I am knitting a doormat that doesn't come in pretty colors.