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!

Project # 2

Remember how I said that I was working on a couple of fun things at the same time*? Well, here's the second one. A friend of mine is pregnant with her second child and I decided that second babies deserved some nice things too--not just hand-me downs! The mat knitting got me itchy to start another knitting project so here it is. A classical take on the ever popular baby blanket. Isn't it cute?? And you would not believe how soft and cuddly this yarn is--absolutely scrumptious!

Here's a close-up of the stitches. I've used this pattern before for a baby blanket years ago. Its called the feather and fan pattern. And despite what it looks like, it is soooo easy. Only 4, count'em 4, rows in the pattern and only one of those rows is a counted pattern row. Believe me, it doesn't get much easier than that.
Here it is:
cast on a multiple of 18 st.
row 1: (RS) Knit
row 2: Purl
row 3: *(K2tog)3X, (YO, K1)6X, (K2tog)3X*, repeat from *
row 4: Knit

In a fine yarn the pattern looks a lot more lacy and delicate--all of those YO's, don't you know. But I'm knitting this in a bulky weight yarn: Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn as seen here. So I'm using size 8 needles. The combination of those two means that this is knitting up FAST! This stuff is awesome--so soft and it knits up fast (being bulky and all). And its machine washable and dryable; a must with all baby items.

I'm having such fun--I haven't knitted anything in ages and my fingers are thanking me! By the way, I got the pattern for the blanket out of my very favorite knitting pattern source book of all time: A treasury of knitting patterns by Barbara Walker. There are countless knitting pattern books out there (and I have quite a few) but none of them match up to Barbara Walker's books. She actually published 4 treasuries and they are classics. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

* can you tell I've had the week off??

Next up: "Death by chocolate" cookies. Not for the faint of heart--serious chocolate addicts only. :)