In the meantime, I did prepare an Earth Day project. Of course I didn't get it posted in time, but we'll take the attitude that everyday should be Earth Day, and act as if it's not late at all.
I've been streamlining my stash lately, and confronted a big pile of cotton yardage that had been my living room curtains. They were badly faded in spots, but otherwise in good shape. I had 8 panels of 100% cotton and I finally decided, after seeing some similar projects on Ravelry, to cut them into strips and knit a rug.
If you've never made continuous fabric strips, here's a quick way to do it. Remove all the hems from your fabric, and fold it so that the raw edges are even and extend a bit beyond the rest of the fabric. Using a rotary cutter and ruler, cut strips without cutting through the raw edges. These strips were cut 1", but if I were to do this again, I'd go smaller, because the thicker the strip the more cumbersome the knitting.
Cut every other strip apart with a scissors, which will give you a continuous strip that you can roll into a ball like yarn. The location of the cuts will alternate in the top and bottom layer of fabric. I knit my rug on size 13 needles by casting on 42 stitches and alternating blocks of garter and stockinette stitch. This isn't very precise work, so make it up to suit yourself. The garter stitch makes for a nice thick rug, though it's harder on the hands to knit.
Voila, my new bathroom rug! I've freed up a big space on my fabric closet shelf, and got a rug out of it in the bargain.
The illusive Wee gives it the fireside seal of approval.
I used six panels of fabric for this rug, so it really eats up stash that is otherwise useless. I may crochet a basket or a cat bed with what's left. Or at least that's what I intend to do right now.
10 comments:
I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect anything that looks this fabulous! Maybe I was thinking of some sort of printed fabric mish-mash....like something I would do!
What a cool way to use up old fabric, Barbara! You can also cut up a 3X5 card that way and then step through it! (an old training trick!) Your Wee could be a distant cousing of our Ginger....
That's very sharp looking too! What a good idea.
What a wonderful rug!! did you crochet this? what size hook?
Slick! And what a great way to repurpose your curtains!
What a fantastic tutorial, Barbara. Thanks!
I'm with Vicki -- I was surprised by how much I liked it...isn't that a terrible thing to say?? I would love to make one..what did you use for fabric...a sheet??
Like the pink shoes 2 *smile
Very cool and if you didn't want beige you could dye it!
Wow, that is so cool!!! You are amazing.
Great looing project Barb...love the way it turned out. Amazing how much Wee looks like Ebby..but Wee's white is a bit higher on her chest. Ebby's looks like a bikini top...lol. A basket would be great from the leftovers. Hugs, Finn
Post a Comment