I just joined a Ravelry group called Project Yarnway in April.  It's a group for designers that has a monthly challenge where you have to start and complete a new design under the monthly challenge guidelines.  May's challenge was to learn a new technique and design a pattern that would be good for beginners.  I wanted to learn how to do free-form needlefelting.  I've only done a couple general shapes in a cookie cutter before.  I decided to do a placemat but didn't quite have enough yarn in my stash to complete it, so I went for a hotpad instead!  I knit it on my Kiss modular loom using 7 washers with a garter stitch border and knit center.  It felted into a rectangular shape which is perfect for a casserole dish hotpad!  I've always wondered why there aren't any rectangular ones, so now i've made my own.  I really like the shape of the grapes and the dimension I was able to get on them.  I hope you like it too.