Rug Hooking

I just wanted to share this video with you. I have watched many rug hooking video tutorials and this one is great, covers just about every thing.

Just a quick addition to this post.
I've been working on my own rug.
I began with the rug hooking method and was concerned the medium may fall out, so I locked it in with the locker hooking method, it may be a bit of over kill, but there is so much work in one of these, I did not want it to fall apart. Here is my mat, I was making it for a toilet mat, but it maybe too good for that.

It is sort of a Picaso design with a bit of my humor in it.

I've been using all types of medium to create it.
From shirts to sheets to yarn.

Small Flower Loom

I watched a tutorial using a small flower loom, the same flower loom that I found in my mystery bag from the second hand shop. It gave me an idea to make grand daughter Bella (5 yrs) a bag for her DS game boy. 
Below is the finished bag, it is the same on both sides.

I made a lining and put a zipper in for security.

As you can see, the game boy fits perfectly in the little bag, along side of the bag is the flower loom that I used.

Below is a tutorial, which eventually gets to the flower making. There were more tutorials, but I found this one the best of them.

What I learned From Recycling Sweaters

My initial research paid off. I knew what to look for, what could be taken apart.
But what I was not prepared for was a thin sweater (too much work), I was also unaware of how long to soak the recycled yarn. After more research, I learned it is best to leave the yarn soaking over night. This will help to get rid of the wrinkles (not totally so far), clean the yarn and leave it smelling like new.

I unraveled the sweater with the help of my yarn winder.

Then I wound the yarn into large skeins by wrapping it around 2 chairs and used about 6 ties to secure it.

I then let the yarn soak over night in a eucalyptus wool wash.

The batch in here are yarn balls I bought second hand and they were smelly so I washed them too.

This is my first lot of  unraveled and soaked yarn, that is now drying in the shower.

You can put something heavy on the bottoms of the skeins to assist with the wrinkles coming out even more.

This is another sweater to unravel.

 After the yarn had dried, I was looking forward to winding it into balls to use with my yarn winder, not that simple. I had placed the skein on the floor and begun to wind the yarn, but it all ended up into a mess!

Put your thinking cap on Cat! There must be a right way to do this, even with out a swift. So I went back to the chairs where I had made the skeins, placed the skeins back over the chairs and began to wind the balls of yarn that way. Yippee, no tangles, but I will still have to go back to the yarn winder and use that if I want nicely wound balls of yarn.

I have now gone just that one step further and attached the yarn winder to the chair to save time.

Some may say why bother with all that trouble?
For me, I found it relaxing (apart from winding the yarn around the chairs). 
The washing means you are almost there.
The money saved is more than worth the effort.
And finally, I finally have the same ply and color to make larger projects, this is very exciting for me.
Some very useful links.

How to Unravel a Sweater to Recycle Yarn 

Reclaiming yarn from a thrift store sweater

I tried some more weaving

In my last post I had made a tiny weaved pouch. I used the same method to make a bag for myself. I used quite thick yarn and tried some different weaving techniques too. I have been watching quite a few youtube video tutorials to learn more about the weaving. I really like the texture the weaving gives you.