Riot and Frolic

I'm going to write a tutorial for my circle rug since I didn't bomb the toot for yo-yos.  I'll give you some helpful tips along the way, but I'm assuming you know how to single crochet.  And wow, I started writing this last night and didn't realize it was so long.  I'm going to get you all prepared today, then have you crochet it tomorrow.

Firstly, it helps if you pronounce it "crow-shet" or "crotch-it," not the fuddy-duddy "crow-shay."  

Secondly, don't feel bad if tying a slip knot makes you feel dumb everytime.  I often get my little loop on my hook, do a couple chain stitches and then realize I'm using the short end of the yarn.  

First hint: hold the end of the yarn in your right hand (if you're right-handed) as you make the knot with your left.  Practice.  "It's muscle memory!" Dance Teacher Kate would say.

Second hint: if you haven't done a lot of crocheting, do a million chain stitches.  I'm kidding.  Do a thousand.  Somewhere, I heard the tale of a girl who had to make a strand of chain stitches that went from her front door to her back door before she could learn something else.  *like.*

Circle Rug

Materials needed:

16 yards of fabric

    I used four different prints of cotton fabric at four yards each.      

    Squint your eyes and choose a color you like.  Details in the fabric won't show up much and the     wrong side of the fabric shows up every once in awhile also.   You're doing Impressionist Crochet.

    If you're local, I highly recommend SR Harris.  It's a fabric outlet where everything is 50% off all     the time.  They have a great selection, but you might have to dig for something special.

Fabric Scissors

    Those ones you hide from your husband, but he somehow always finds them and uses them to cut     tinfoil or drywall or something, and then "puts back" in the wrong place.  Yeah, those.

A big hook

    You can mess around with this and choose whichever one you like best.  I used my old school N,     but anything from a K to an S would work.   

Some time

    Cutting the fabric correctly seemed to take the longest amount of time.  Maybe because it's hard to     hold a wine glass and scissors at the same time.  The crocheting part went relatively fast since I     can  watch movies as I hook (I'm not too strict on my own pattern).

    One hour cutting, two hours looping

A finishing needle

And, here, we go:

Cut the fabric.  This is the doozy.

Get your yardage spread out on the floor, or maybe outside if it's nice.  If you have 16 yards of the same thing, you'll either want to head to your nearest football field or cut it into more manageable pieces.  I'm using a mini version for the pictures.  

Put the selvage edges (the neat, non-cut [self-finished] sides) of your cotton together AND CUT THEM OFF.  I didn't do this for my rug and don't mind it too much, but it is kind of silly to have them there.  I didn't do it for the pictures so you could tell where I was cutting.

Fold your fabric in half again, but line up the second fold so it's an inch from the top edges.

Cut fabric into strips, leaving the top half-inch or so by the edge intact.

Now, pay attention.  Cut through the BOTTOM LAYER of the first strip at the edge.  Unravel a nice strip.  

Then cut through the TOP LAYER of the second strip.

Cut cutting, going through the bottom layer, then the top layer on every other strip.

Then, you will have this.  

I swear, it's all one piece.

Roll it up into a center-pull ball (the kind of ball that doesn't run away from you when you pull more yarn out), or not.  If you'd like to make a center-pull ball, here's how (it works for regular yarn, also):

Hold fabric in one hand.  

Make a "gun" with your thumb and pointer finger and wrap figure 8s around your gun fingers.

Keep wrapping until you can't handle it anymore.

Take the figure 8 loops off your fingers and fold them in half (or just smush them together).

Wrap your fabric around the loops, making a ball!

Great-grandma!  You've done it!  Now, when you go to crochet, don't use the loose end (shown laying across the ball), use the end that's coming out from the top.  Hence, it will pull from the center and not the circumference and that is neat.

Now you are ready.  But I am not.  You have to hang out with your balls until tomorrow.   We'll crow-shet then.

Love ya.