Just a little diversion from the seasonal stitching

Although the holidays are rapidly approaching, the call for a new rug was in order yesterday. Remembering one of those PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) under my stairs, I started digging them thru things to find it. It was oh so close to being finished. A movie marathon last night managed to give me just enough time to complete it!  Yeah one less PIG laying around.  If you have never made one of these rugs, there is really not much better to be had out there. A simple single crochet with the cheapest fabric you can find that is torn into about 2" strips. When I say cheap, I mean it. These fabrics came from JoAnn's fabrics and were $1 a yard. The prints are pretty hideous, (realizing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder). Hopefully I don't offend anyone!  :-)  Normally I walk right by them, but once I realized how wonderful these rugs were, I watch for those special sales. I really can't tell you just how much fabrics they take, but it is a lot.  When you start your fabric strips you don't need to measure, eye-balling it, works just great. I do like to snip off the selvege's and toss them. The trick is in putting all your strips together. Here is a few pictures of the process to hopefully help you along.

First snip a slit about 1" up from the end of your fabrics.

Then line up the 2 pieces.

Take the opposite end of one of the pieces and fold it up a bit.

Here is the trick. You want the fabric your feeding thru to start on the bottom, if it's the end that is on top of the "sandwich". I try to keep this order just to make things easy. You will find that if you feed from the top, it won't lock together.

So here's what it will look like once they 2 ends are pulled together.

A little tug on the ends and it locks nicely into place.

I like to have a good size ball of fabric connected before I start my crocheting, but it is very simple to add as you go. Oh yeah, another little tip I have learned over time is that if you tear the length of the fabric, rather than the width, you will have way less pieces to connect, and that saves a ton on time!  :-)

 A "P" size  crochet hook or #15 is what I use, so it tends to grow quite quickly.

The size and shape is up to you. I tend to work in ovals, just because I am comfortable with that and it works for the size rug I needed.

After the holidays grab yourself some fabric and give this a try. They wash like a dream and wear like nothing I have seen. Debbie Mumm used to have a great tutorial on her web site, but I see she has taken it down. I am sure if you use "Google" you can still find a tutorial or two online if you need better directions.

ENJOY!