Mug rugs in Shy as Acorn

I have no idea where or why I purchased two skeins of Seacoast Handpainted Alpaca Silk. I'm guessing it was from Tuesday Morning and I either liked the colorway name or I thought the yarn was lonely. I don't even like green!

When I decided to weave something smallish on my rigid heddle loom, I reached for this yarn because I knew I would never knit anything from it. While the skein was on the swift, I guessed the color runs would not pool. And I was right.

Not only was I right, the result is pretty nice. So nice that when I showed this project to my SO, he immediately wanted to know what I was going to do with the mug rugs. I assured him he was getting a set.

Pattern: plain weave on 7.5 sett heddle
Yarn: Seacoast Handpainted Alpaca Silk, colorway 'Shy as Acorn' (weft) and Valley Yarns in 'Natural' (warp)
EPI: 7.5
PPI: Approximately 7.5

One mistake I made was not leaving enough warp for the fringe. This made tying off excruciatingly tedious as I had to wrap the fringe around a crochet hook, pull the ends through the loop while pinching the loop with index and thumb, then adjust the knot with a yarn needle. I think it took longer than the weaving.

The first run of warp was long enough for nine mats, with one skein of weft yarn completing seven of those. I thought the second run of warp was long enough for five more, but NOT - only four fit on it. I warped enough for one more mat, just to use up the weft yarn.

I ended up with 14 rug mugs, enough to gift three sets of four plus have two leftover for my own use and to take to weavers guild for show and tell. Also, the more I weave, the more comfortable I become with the entire process. Now to break out the long neglected spinning wheel.