First, the facts:
Title: Knitting Fabric Rugs: 28 Colorful Designs for Crafters of Every Level
Author: Karen Tiede
Published by: Storey, 2015
Pages: 176
Type: How-To
Chapters:
Knitted Rugs: The Backstory
Materials: The Heart of a Fabric Rug
Color! Rules of Thumb
Process: Rug-Making Nuts and Bolts
Earn Your Stripes
Tantalizing Tessellations
Log Cabin Designs and Beyond
Spirited Spirals
Inspiration: Going Free-Form
The In-Depth Look:
Sometimes a knitter gets bored knitting the same old things. Scarves. Shawls. Sweaters. Socks. (Other things that start with S.)
Sometimes, you can even get bored with traditional yarn, and yearn for something else.
Or maybe you’ve got a stash of fabrics you don’t know what to do with.
Or you just want something completely new to try. (New to you, at least.)
Well, maybe knitting rugs out of strips of scrap fabric is just what you’re looking for.
The author begins by explaining how to choose and prepare your fabric–old clothing, mostly, either from your closet or from thrift stores. Then she talks about construction methods–how to make a ball of “yarn” from your fabric strips, how to start and join new strips to your work, and so on.
Then she gets into patterns–basic ones with stripes, Log Cabin style designs, shapes based on quilt patterns, even free-form designs–whatever you might need to turn your strips of fabric into a rug you’ll be proud to use, whether that means hanging it on the wall or using it by your fireside or next to your bathtub.
I admit that this technique isn’t for me–all those ends! Even with the joins tied together as you go, I’m too much of a perfectionist to love this look for my house, BUT, that said, I love the creativity and the practicality. Not to mention the frugality of turning old clothes into something new and usable again.
You can check out this book at your local book store or get it directly from Amazon.com.
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This review copy was kindly donated by . Thank you!
