Wednesday

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Tuesday

For a change of pace, I've been working on this mat during evening TV time.

I'm crocheting it using a huge (as thick as my finger but I can't see a size marking) crochet hook and 1 1/2" strips.  This is burning through fabric!  I'm snipping a slit on the end of each strip and half-hitching it to the next one, and intentionally leaving the tails to create more texture.

This will be a soft thick squishy mat for the "new" bathroom!

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Rag rug completion

Hooray -- another UFO finished and another project tub cleared off my table!

I started this rag rug back in July, as part of the NewFo 2014 Challenge and also the Let's Book It Challenge, using the "toothbrush rug" technique.  It turned out to be very tough on my arthritisy hands, and also very challenging to keep straight and even.  The rug is about 24" x 36" and used approximately 14 yards of fabric. 

After some vigorous steaming and blocking, it's more squared and even, but still not really as good as it should be.  It's a cute-enough rug, but I doubt that I'll ever make another one using this technique.  I plan to use it in my kitchen during the holiday season.

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Rag rug progress

I'm coming along nicely with the rag rug I started a couple of weeks ago.  It's easy enough to do, although it does get tiresome for arthritis-y hands.  I'm getting better control of the tension and making neater turns at the ends of the rows as I go along.

I'm using a stripped-down bed sheet as the foundation strand, and then random fabric strips at least 18" or so long as the working strand.  This is using a LOT of fabric -- I'll probably be well over twelve yards by the time I'm done, and then I also want to do a once-around border, so more than that actually.

I'm hoping to have this finished in time for show-and-tell at my August guild meeting.  Meanwhile, I'm counting the project as my July NewFo and also my July Let's Book It.

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A start

One of my goals for this week was to give the toothbrush rag rug technique a try. 

I'm following the instructions in the pamphlet that came with the tool.  They call for 2" strips, which are giving me a VERY firm heavy result.  I will do this whole project using the same size strips that I started with, but if I ever make another rug, first I'll do a sample to experiment with 1 1/2" strips.  This rug is planned to finish at about 28" x 44", and by my estimate will use about 10 yards of stripped-down fabric. 

Other than a possible change of strip size next time, it's easy.  The first little bit I was getting a feel for how to do the joins and turns, but now at six rows in I'm getting more consistent results.  I'll probably do a final border all the way around to smooth in my bumpity edges. 

This rug will be my July NewFO start, and also my July Let's Book It project.  I'm aiming for a rag rug for the kitchen for December/Christmas.

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