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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Cut a Rug

I got a bit of the cutting done last night, and finished the remainder today. Boy is that hard on the hands. And probably on the scissors too!


All of the balls of handwoven chenille bagged up and ready for the next step --- weaving it into a pile rug. Don't hold your breath though, the guild loom won't be ready for the next stage for quite some time. First all interested weavers must do this step, then the loom needs to be rewarped for the next step, and that will not likely be until after Christmas.


Not too many guild members are interested in weaving one of these at this busy time of the year. I've offered to help use up the existing warp by weaving another run of chenille as I still have a fair bit of "stash" left. Tricky hey? I'll tackle that some time next week.

9 comments:

Leigh said...

What an interesting series of posts. I found you via a link on Alison's Yarn in my Pocket. The rug is sensational.

Anonymous said...

It's looking fabulous! And wow, I think this is the first time I've referred anyone to someone else's blog! ;) Oddly enough, before I read your blog this morning, I was wondering whether you'd cut this with scissors or a rotary cutter. I don't know which would be easier/quicker/lighter on the hands in the long run...

Marlene said...

I did consider using a rotary cutter Alison, but the chenille is pretty thick! My rotary cutter has a gaurd on it that would prevent the blade from going all the way through something like this --- or a finger.

Last time I did one of these rugs I borrowed a pair of strong snips that had a reverse spring system. You squeezed to OPEN them. They worked very well.

Ruinwen Dagorielle said...

Wow it is so exciting seeing this rug evolve! :)

José said...

Oh, wow! This is very inspiring!
I did a pair of stashbuster socks once, but a project like this one would buster a lot more of the vast amount of fiber that is living in my stash.
I'll keep this in mind for my next project.

Marlene said...

I'm glad to hear you might attempt one Jose. The rug can be made with ANY yarn at all. You can use acrylics, wools, cottons --- whatever fiber content you please. Any thickness of yarn can be used as well, from the finest lace weights to your thickest bulky yarns. They are held together in bundles of about the thickness of your smallest finger and used together as one "shot" in the weaving.

They only limitation I have found is the yarn you choose must not fall apart easily. Any yarn that frays easily at the end (such as chenille yarns) would be a poor choice. Other than that, anything you no longer want for a knitting project can be added to the rug.

The rugs seem to look the nicest if you sort your stash somewhat according to colour. It doesn't have to be perfect as some variety adds interest, but a group of "darks" another of "lights" or "cool" colours and "warm" colours....anything to add some kind of order to the pile of yarns.

Maggie Ann said...

I love the colors! You accomplish so much...its inspiring.

Anonymous said...

Wow - so THAT'S how you make chenille!!! And the colors really work out well. I've really enjoyed watching the process of this rug. Great blog Marlene!!

Pam said...

How pretty!