Monday, June 19, 2006

 

Rugs!




The bottom rug was made with Harrisville looms potholder loops and was so much fun to make! I don't think I've ever made anything that so perfectly resembled the pattern in the book. I decided to follow the "see what you can knit with" path and came up with the top rug made out of grocery bags cut into loops. The two are about the same size, although the photos look different. I'm storing up a stash of bags for the next one and now get inappropriately excited when I find a store with unusually colored bags!

Comments:
On Knitty Gritty a woman had made a tote to hold the shopping bags out of shopping bags! She actually tied the strips together, but I like the loop idea much better.

Go for it!
 
Ooh, very neat! I like them both!
 
Fortunately I don't have any kids to embarrass with my shopping bag joy. I do have a boyfriend who is now saddled with the responsiblity of saving every bag he sees.
 
I meant to ask, how wide did you cut the shopping bags, and what size needles did you use?
 
How does the grocery bag rug feel to walk on? Does it seem like it will last a long time?

I think if my husband saw me knitting with those, he would finally be convinced that I'd lost it completely...but I admit I am curious!
 
I cut the strips anywhere from an inch to an inch and a half each. It really depends on the bag, and on the next one I would definitely only use bags of the same aproximate thickness and weight. I tried to make sure that each loop was strong enough, and that varied with the bag.

I used size 19 needles (the biggest the yarn store had) for both rugs, but might go smaller on the grocery bag one next time as it is a little looser than I might like.

The grocery bag rug is going to my mom as a birthday present because moms have to like what every you make and sometimes boyfriends snicker. It feels kind of squishy to walk on, but I have no idea how it will hold up in the long run. I don't think it's "category 5-proof," but could handle some moderate traffic. Probably the thicker the bag and the bigger the needle, the stronger the rug.

This project isn't in the book but was inspired by the "calamari knitting" page when I started thinking about other things that are secretly loops and are cheap.

Hope this is helpful! (By the way- the boyfriend may have snickered during the initial cutting and looping phase, but he thought it was cool in the end).
 
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