Observations and Tweaks

My trip to Kripalu gave me a chance to play with a couple of my recent projects:  a yoga mat and a water bottle carrier.

Overall I've been really pleased with the yoga mat's performance.  I have been using it sporadically at home the last several months and brought it to my yoga weekend for a good workout.  

I had already made modifications to the grippy sections (by adding on those triangle sections above the chevron) after a week or two.  The center tends to stretch because the block bias runs top to bottom.  It would have been better with a  different pattern and likely a solid, unpieced back.  It creeps about on the rug a bit.  That's fine at home, but I was afraid it would really slide on the hardwood/linoleum floors at Kripalu.  

While I was there I placed my mat over one of their yoga mats, which stayed put really well.  On the one hand, that kind of defeats the purpose of making my own mat.  However, it made me happy to take my classes on such a colorful mat (and I dislike the way their mats smell). 

By the time I came home it was clear that the black grippy material was stretching and will disintegrate a lot faster than I anticipated when I designed the mat.  Smaller pieces sewn near each other would have been better than the larger pieces I used.  Stitching over that stuff was really difficult and I hate the idea of doing even more of that.  I've been brainstorming on how to replace it.  After reading a few reddit posts I'm considering applying some silicon lines/dots to add traction.  I could put that on the back of the mat as well, which would solve the sliding problems - it might even help out the center-stretch issue, too.

I used the water bottle carrier all weekend and liked it so much better than my old strap.  However, it needed a couple of modifications as well.  The strap was the perfect length, but the holder was smidge too wide and definitely too tall.  My water bottle and travel mug both slipped out of it too easily and sat too low to easily refill.  Plus the lumpy bottom seams made it a bit wobbly when I set it down.  When I got home I pulled apart the bottom seams, added a ring of batting where the green stripe is, then stitched the bottom back together with a wider seam allowance to shorten the depth.  It still lists a little when I set it down, but the bottle stays in unless I purposely pull it out and it sits a little higher in the holder.  Much better with a small amount of fuss!

The potential mat upgrades will require a bit more research before I start adding anything or pull it apart.  I will likely leave it as is until the grippy part shreds and then fix it.  We'll see how that goes!