Welcome back Fiber Arts Friday fans!
For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook you know I’ve been working hard all week on this one and I’m sad to say I wasn’t able to finish it yet. Errrr. No worries, here’s what I’ve done so far.
At the Northeast Alpaca Expo last weekend I picked up 2.5lbs of cotton core spun alpaca rug yarn. I was just tickled to find rug yarn around a cotton core instead of jute. This meant I could easily crochet it without too much of a fight. Unfortunately any time you involve a ‘S’ size crochet hook there’s always a fight involved.
I actually made 2 rugs. The first one I made a SC rectangle rug and set it out and looked at it for a day and decided I didn’t like it at all so I ripped it apart. I wanted an oval rug and when I crocheted it the traditional way it was way too thick for my liking and the thickness resulted in a smaller rug size wise.
What I ended up doing was a hybrid between a braided rug and a crochet rug. I made a huge long single crochet line out of the rug yarn and then sewed it together like a braided rug. The last step is to felt it which is where I’m at now.
Here is a photo of my very soggy rug. It is not yet complete and is just in the beginning stages of felting. I must say, felting a rug is fun; it’s a lot like stomping on grapes. Just put it in a kiddy pool with warm water, some good tunes and stomp away!
I have finished crocheting a rug out of Alpaca Rug Yarn. With a large crochet hook, I finished it in an evening! Sounds fun to felt with your feet, but I am curious what the reason is for doing this. Does felting help it all hold together better?
I opted to felt mine for a few reasons… (A) to let the dyed colors have one more rinse (B) mine was sewn not croched and I wanted it to hold together better (C) any fuzzies that were out of control felted in nicely (D) wetting the rug and blocking it to dry set the rugs memory to lay flat and not curl at all.
Thank you for your reply … makes sense! I am finding that my rug yarn sheds quite a bit so I may give feet felting a try … perhaps in the shower?
.-= Julie Petty´s last blog ..Winner – Holly Berry Fairy Maiden! =-.
The shower might work. Just don’t fold it and step on it. You don’t want the rug to felt in ways you didn’t intend it.
Use the spin cycle of your washing machine to suck out most of the water to help it dry faster.
Also when you dry it make sure you have it laid out flat and block it with weights if need be so it will retain the right shape without any curles or bumps. Depending on the thickness of the rug it might take a few days to dry this way but it’s totally worth it for a rug that lays out like it should.
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[...] Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Rug | Alpaca Bytes [...]
[...] Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Rug | Alpaca Bytes [...]
[...] Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Rug | Alpaca Bytes [...]
I would love to felt by stomping with my feet. Are you finding it harder to felt with crochet stitches as opposed to a knit stitch? Great colour combo!
.-= Allison´s last blog ..Fiber Arts and Friendship Friday: Share Your Tutorials =-.
What a fun rug! Beautiful colours.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun, stomping around to felt!!
Jess
.-= Jess (Storied Yarns)´s last blog ..Fiber Arts Friday: Birthday Handspun =-.
It’s a beautiful rug. I really need to learn how to crochet so I can work on more projects. Can’t wait to see how it felts up.
[...] Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Rug | Alpaca Bytes [...]
I’ve been wanting to make a rug – thanks for the tip on foot felting! My neighbors already think I’m nuts, with all the yarn and wool drying out on the line – might not even notice me stomping around in a kiddie pool
.-= Kate (KnitsInClass)´s last blog ..Ready, Set, Spin =-.
LOL! I bet your neighbors think you’re nuts. Stomp away.
.-= Kathryn | Alpacamundo´s last blog ..Fiber Arts Friday – Matter of Trust =-.
Foot felting sounds like great fun. I’m looking forward to seeing your FO.
.-= AllyB´s last blog ..It’s Friday let’s have some fiber =-.
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