Spiral Braided Rag Rug

I've wanted to make another spiral braid rag rug since finishing my last one! I learned to make a Braided Rag Rug in a two-part workshop with Ilka White who lives near Melbourne, Australia. It was definitely worth two late evenings (until 11 pm my time) at the computer to learn from her. She's a superior instructor! One of the best I've ever learned from. 

Braiding a rug another one of those things, like kawandi, that I've found somewhat addictive. The reason I didn't start a rug sooner is that I was waiting (during pandemic days) to go to Goodwill to shop for old clothes or home dec items that could be made into a rug. But then, I began to do a little closet cleaning. I'm repurposing our own clothes! 

I spent an afternoon cutting strips from:

• two of hub's shirts (those bright yellow strips!);
• my own fleece pajamas, and three knit shirts; 
• and leftover fabrics from making seven articles of clothing

I've happily realized it's an advantage to be a sewist! Small, unusable pieces left from cutting out tops, shorts, and even home dec weight purses/bags, can be entirely used-up in a rug! So much strip-cutting helped reduce my stuffed-full bin of "what's left from making clothes." 

In this pictures, I've just start a braid with two strips clamped onto a clipboard.

Since the first rug I made was round, I wanted to make this one oval. The crochet hook is used for pulling the weaver strand through a loop.

Ilka taught us how to increase the number of braids being used. At this point I was braiding with eight strands. When making my round rug, at one point I was braiding with 14 strands. 

It's just so intriguing to watch the spiral pattern emerge! 

For now, I'm taking a pause with it because I want to see what other things I can strip-cut to make the rug larger than the 25" X 33" it is at this point.

For something to do on late Sunday morning, we golf-carted to Starbucks. It was a gorgeous day. All the bedding flowers are looking really pretty, though we could sure use some rain. 

Book Recommendation

Why the Sky is Blue by Susan Meissner is a book about something I have never considered. What does a mother of two do when she discovers she's pregnant as a result of a physical attack of which she has no memory? That's the situation Claire Holland finds herself in. With emotional support from her pastor and his wife, Claire and her husband Dan make an extremely difficult decision - not to terminate the pregnancy, because Claire's history of miscarriages and risky pregnancies will certainly come into play in the days ahead. When the moment comes for the final decision, the heartbreak of the situation makes continuing to go on almost unbearable. Yet, love prevails, and shines through when it's most needed. 

Linda's score 4.0/5.0

Did you catch the lunar eclipse/blood moon early Wednesday morning? Apparently it wasn't as visible here as it was in Western skies, but my little Canon point-and-shoot caught the gist of it at 5:57 am.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Linda

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