Monday, August 20, 2018

A Bit of Crochet かぎ針編み + Road Trip Day 6

My quilt friend, Karen, was crocheting a rag rug at a recent guild meeting. She showed me exactly what she was doing and I was inspired to go home and start one myself.

I made this rag rug from selvages cut at a 1" width. Chain 41 stitches, turn, crochet in the second chain from hook, crochet 40 single crochet stitches. Chain one, turn, and continue to crochet 40 single crochet stitches, back and forth. I used a size M/N crochet hook. Here are some in-progress photos:



Here's how Karen showed me to join the strips: cut a slit in both selvage pieces. Slip the add-on (red fabric) through the established yarn ball end (green fabric). Pull the red tail through the red slit. Pull tight. It makes a neat, small join:

My rag rug finishes at 23" X 39". To finish the edges off, I raided my solids fabric stash, cut off the selvages and crocheted around the outside: 

I entered my crocheted rug in our county fair recently and received a 2nd place ribbon. The judge's comment was "Strive to hide loose ends". That made me laugh out loud, as it is a raw edge rag rug!

There will be more rag rugs in my future, as there are plenty more selvages in my stash!

DD2, Susanna, recently hit a milestone--she has completed 700 teddy bears for Mother Bear Project, where they send knit or crocheted teddy bears to orphans in Africa. Here's a group of 80 that she turned in last week:

Susanna's signature teddy bear look is the colorful ears she gives her teddy bears.

Here is the last vlog DD2 made of our 2018 summer road trip:
She flew back 5 days before us, and since she is our vlogger, those days are not documented. We drove home via Redwood National Park. The elk were everywhere, and very accustomed to people. The trees were amazing.
 

Grace and peace!!! ~Nancy
  

22 comments:

  1. Well done on your rag rug. i like the look of that.
    And wow to that number of teddy bears. What an amazing achievement.
    Love the tree signs.

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  2. Super cute rag rug! Congratulations on your second place ribbon at the fair! 700 bears is quite an achievement for Susanna. Those bears must have a lot of stories and adventures to share!
    Quilter Bonnie

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  3. Wow your daughter impresses me with the amount of bears she has made! She looks just like you Nancy and creative like you. Great rag rug.

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  4. I'm giggling at the judge's comment. :-) Perhaps he/she should read a bit more closely. Cute rug though! Susanna has done a great job on her teddy bears! Goodness that's a lot of colorful ears in that photo! Good job, both of you!

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  5. Sometimes those judges just make me laugh too, really they should know what they are looking at!! Congratulations on a well deserved ribbon!

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  6. What a clever use of selvages! I usually throw mine out ... but I think I shall have to start keeping them. My selveges are usually white though with little spots of color, how come yours are so colorful?

    The bears are awesome, I'm impressed by how many Susanna made! What a great heart she has to dedicate that kind of time.

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  7. Cute rug and a great use for selvages.

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  8. I love that rug! do you only use salvage edges or any strips that you want. Great idea to use up some of the left over bits that we have, I have a ton of strips

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  9. Great rug and what a great way to use selvages! Those bears are adorable...I love the picture of all of them together. So cute!

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  10. I love that rug and the way to join is genius - perfect way to do it. That judge had no idea of what it was you did...kind of silly! Congratulations on the two acheivements - your award and your daughter’s milestone. She is quite the inspiration.

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  11. Congrats on a second place for your pretty rag rug! It's always interesting to see what the judges pick up on, isn't it?

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  12. I enjoyed coming cross country through Susana's vlog. I live in Fresno, looks a lot like Modesto. We've driven through Modesto many times, but not east of Carson City. I'm sure she made lots of bears on the trip.

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  13. Such a great rag rug! I love how everything looks so great together in this project. I'm amused by the "hide raw edges comment"! :)

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  14. Love the cute teddy bears. Everyoabout this post made me smile. Great early morning eye candy.

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  15. I love your rag rug! And the teddy bears are fantastic -- love the colorful ears. So amazing and wonderful that she has made so many!

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  16. Oh no, now I'm gonna have to clean out a drawer to save my selvages. What a great idea.

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  17. I love your rag rug! Now I want to start one of my own; as if I should be starting any new hobbies..

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Yvonne! You're a no-reply blogger, so I'm replying here. Actually I think it's not another hobby--it's just a great way to use up those selvages that might otherwise go into the landfill. That's how I see it!

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  18. Ok, great minds think alike - I am also crocheting a rag rug from selvages! I have never saved them, so it will take me a while to finish it. Don't you love how soft and squishy it is to stand on? Wow! Your daughter is amazing - what a beautiful heart she has!

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  19. Those bears are precious! I like the rag rug that was crocheted rather that sewn over batting. Have you had any success with jelly roll strips or are they too wide?

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  20. Well that is just too slick of a way to join the ends, much neater than mine....(man the judge would have had a coronary seeing mine!)

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