More Scraps

I finally got around to visiting S.C.R.A.P.'s new store. I was excited about it, not only to see the new space, but also because they'd been closed for a month, and I figured there would be lots of new goodies on display. I wasn't disappointed! In addition to scoring some incredible fabric samples and dyed wool fleece (for spinning), there was this bin of wool strips (fill a bag for $4.00). I couldn't resist.

You see, I grew up in a house carpeted with rag rugs crocheted by my mom. Mom was pretty amazing in that way. My parents had a large family and small budget, but it was important to my mom to have beautiful things in the house. So she made do with what she had, re-using and do-it-herselfing. She re-upholstered much of the furniture, made quilts, clothes, curtains, and, of course, the rag rugs. I had a kind of love/hate relationship with those rugs. On one hand, they cozied up the rough wood floors of our house something nice, and all the re-used fabrics in them held the stories of our family; certain special dresses worn by my sisters, my dad's old work shirts, mom's slacks I remember petting when I was a toddler; security.On the other hand, so many times I remember playing on the rug with precious buttons, marbles, or tiny treasures, only to have them slip through the spaces in the crochet fabric, to disappear (sometimes forever!) into the vast, unretrievable dustiness of under the carpet. So now I'm knitting my own rag rug. I'm using these goofy, huge (size 15) slippery blue aluminum needles. I'm cutting down the strips into thirds; when I near the end of the strip, rather than cut all the way, I leave a little bit fastened together at the end, and start cutting back the other way. This way, I have longer continuous strips and don't have to sew together so many ends.I'll show you a picture when it's all finished.