Project Restyle 1: Old Sheets Become a New Rug!

You all got a preview of this project last week, and I think your sweet comments are what got me through knitting it!  This is the Coco Knits Rag Doily Rug - I featured it as a Nice Thing loooong ago, and when I recently dug through the Nice Things archive looking for a project to work on, it immediately jumped out at me.

The "yarn" is simply strips of an old sheet set that was way past it's prime.  It wasn't in good enough condition to thrift and I didn't want to throw it away, so it's been sitting in my craft room for the past few months, waiting for a new life.

Ripping the sheets into strips made my arms and back embarrassingly sore (hello, I'm out of shape).  I had no idea what I was getting into at this stage.


All the strips rolled up made a huge, ridiculous ball of yarn.  This is only the flat sheet - in the end, I had to use most of what I could salvage from the fitted sheet, too.


Knitting this thing was hard.  If you've ever knit with cotton yarn and been frustrated by its lack of give, then you can imagine this - just multiply the difficulty by 20.  My weak little arms got quite a workout.  If you are a tight knitter, remember, knit LOOSE!  I also had some issues because I was using slightly smaller needles than the recommended #19s - I'm not sure what size they are (they are my mom's), but I'd estimate that they were around a #17, making my rug a little bit thicker and less lacy than the pattern version.  The pattern itself was simple, easy to memorize, and satisfying to knit - it starts to appear quickly, which is always fun.  I think even a beginning knitter could handle it just fine.


Despite my sore arms, I do love the finished product!  Here it is in its new home, our (tiny and hard to photograph, but with an antique claw-foot tub, so I can't really complain) bathroom.  It's definitely nice to have a pretty, cooshy rug to stand on while I'm brushing my teeth!

This is my first contribution to Elsie and Rachel's Project Restyle group.  I used to do a ton of restyling, but have fallen out of the habit lately.  I'm hoping that Project Restyle will help motivate me to get back on it this year!

Happy Tuesday!