Knitted rugs revisted

Remember when I first started messing about with t-shirt yarn? I made a few bath mats by crocheting ovals and a circle and was not too thrilled (I'm just not a great crocheter). Then I knit a trivit  (turned out ok) and tried knitting a bath mat but the thing was so ugly I ripped it all out again. I decided that the time had not yet come and, more importantly, the pattern had not yet been discovered that would yield the optimum results.

Well, glory be, I found that magical perfect pattern and spent a happy happy weekend cutting up t-shirts and knitting. The pattern actually calls for a cut up king size flat sheet for the yarn but I knew that t-shirt yarn would work (and I think work even better). You can download the free pattern here. This pattern is worked on flat needles but through the magic of short rows makes a semi-circular or circular rug. Here you can see I'm about halfway done. You work this pattern wedge by wedge and the pointy edging
is worked along at the same time.  A very well thought out pattern indeed!

And here's a detail of one of the edges. I knit this on my biggest needles that I had (17) and that made a nice and thick and cushy texture. Very soft to stand on. I'm pretty sure if you made this out of sheet strips that that would not be the case.

And here is the finished mat--SO cool. I'm moving in April so I think I will save this for my new master bath. I may have to make another 2 or three as well as gifts and such.

As you can see, it takes six wedges to make a mat. I used approximately one adult t-shirt for each wedge. 12 wedges would make a full circle.

I'm starting on a blue one as a gift for  a neighbor next--so fun.

I'll try to remember to post a tutorial on cutting up t-shirts the quickest and most thorough way soon. Craft stores and various etsy folks have started to sell the stuff (a little pricey), but heck, you can easily make it yourself for free!