Knitted Rag Rugs

In the fall of 2006, a new knitting project began in the form of rag rugs knitted from fabric available in the local recycling center. The first rugs were enjoyable and interesting to knit. Pattern, colorway, size--the possibilities spun out ahead of me. I quickly realized I needed to commit to a series so I could more fully explore the various combinations available, as well as to encourage myself to work with colors that aren't my natural favorites. Aim high and even if you stop earlier, you'll still have completed a decent body of work, and so I determined to knit 100 rugs and then decide whether to continue.

The rugs on this page are the ones that have gone to permanant homes. Rugs available for sale are shown on the Karen Tiede Studios Stores page on eBay. As they find homes, their pictures will come back to this page.

Knitted rugs are made from 100% post-consumer, locally-sourced recycled fabric (old clothes) which is washed, dried and then sliced to ribbons and wound into balls. When I have at least ten pounds of fiber in a particular set of colors, a new rug starts to take shape.

The rugs can be machine washed in cold water and tumble-dried.

Peaches and Green Rag Rug, #15

Peaches and Green 43x29"

The pattern is formed when a unit of four squares, each 1/3 peach, are rotated around the unit's corner.

Red Stripes Rag Rug, #4

Red stripes rag rug 43x24"

Shaded red squares step across the carpet.

Earth Lattice Rag Rug, #6

Earth Lattice rag rug45x32"

Five distinct color bands interweave across the surface of this rug, which was inspired by a pattern in an African textile.

Bright Red Stripes Rag Rug, #13

Bright Red Stripes rag rug44x28"

I had a lot of bright red fabric on hand and decided to push this rug as far into "red" as I could go. The accents were added to increase the apparent brightness of the red. It worked!

Red Log Cabin Rag Rug, #3

Red Log Cabin62 x 27"

Knit in diagonal squares that shift shades of red across the rug.

Old Blue Jeans Rag Rug, #5

Denim rag rug46x17"

Old Blue Jeans was a commissioned rug for a specific bedside location. Its owner says it's a wonderful rug to step onto with bare feet in the morning! The bands of color are half of a jeans leg each (front or back of one leg, discarding the seams).

Blue Log Cabin, Blue Stripes Rag Rugs (set), #1 & 2

Blue Log Cabin rag rug Blue Stripes rag rugLog Cabin rug: 40x26", Stripes: 24x18"

These rugs were commissioned to complement a bathroom that features a handpainted sink and Talavera tile mirror from Mexico.

October Rag Rug (#8)

October rag rug48x34" $275

Inspired by the colors of a neighbor's maple tree in late October. This rug follows a log cabin structure, although knit in triangles for better color management. Deirdre Amsden's Colourwash Quilts provided inspiration for the shading.

Pastel Brights Rag Rug (#7)

Pastel Brights rag rug36x28"

This rug was an early experiment in random knitting; tying up a large ball of related colors and letting the stripes form themselves. It's fun and quick; more to follow.

Springtime Rag Rug (#27)

Springtime rag rug 36x28"

Redbuds and daffodils and the few tulips we see around here and azaleas and all the other colors of springtime in the Carolinas, all knitted up into one rug.

Triple Spiral Rag Rug in Blue

Navy triple spiral

Navy and mid-range blues in a somewhat simple restructure of the basic spiral rug.

Red & Black Log Cabin Rag Rug

Red & Black Log Cabin rag rug52"

This was an early experiment in using up colors, when I was long on reds and blacks. This rug used the same accent colors as the Bright Red Stripes above.

Red & Orange Lattice Rag Rug

Red & Orange Lattice rag rug

An experiment in a more straightforward way to knit a interwoven lattice. While it is easier to knit, the interweaving is not as obvious as the original lattice patterns.

Blue & Green Spiral Rag Rug

Blue & Green Spiral rag rug 48"

Shades of blue and green swirl around each other.

Southwest Rag Rug Set

Southwest Stripe rag rug Southwest Stripe - Diagonal rag rug Southwest Spiral rag rug42x28, 36x24, 22"

A commissioned set of rugs for a family who developed a taste for the colors of the southwest during a few years in El Paso.

Preying Mantis Rag Rug

Preying Mantis rag rug52"

Five shades of green in a triple spiral (triskele) pattern resemble a preying mantis when viewed from a distance, which was not the original design intent.

Red Triple Spiral Rag Rug

Red Triple Spiral rag rug58"

Shades of red moving into purple and pink, separated by black, swirl into and around each other.

Green & Yellow Shaded Stripes Rag Rug

Green & Yellow Shaded Stripes rag rug46"

Dark green fades into gold, taupe and buff, and back again, in this boldly striped rug. Shown mounted for wall display.

The Backstory

Knitted rugs took a few bad bounces before they settled into the rather fabulous art form they are showing signs of becoming. I first saw the idea of knitting VERY bulky fiber in AlterKnits, where Leigh Radford cut up bright pink t-shirts and knitted a little bathmat. In Mason Dixon Knitting, Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne showed some knitted rugs and made mention of knitting quilts. They didn't take the idea much past oversized log cabin squares, which a quick experiment proved were not for me. I don't like all that casting on and picking up. I'd rather sew parts together.

Finally, Deborah New's Unexpected Knitting provided the push to get over the top. I tried knitting her 7-row jacket out of recycled fiber and I couldn't manage 100 stitches--the circular needles aren't strong enough at the place where the cable joins. Back to dpns, and that meant smaller sets of stitches, and that quickly turned to quilt blocks, and the next thing I knew, I was playing with log cabin settings.My water bill was 1000 gallons higher than normal in December and for a day or two, I was on the lookout for leaks. Realized then that it was all the extra laundry I was doing to keep up with the fabric I was finding.

Just today, having paged through the new book about Nancy Crow's quilts, I caught myself thinking, "Maybe I could buy dead white t-shirts from the thrift shop and dye them to get the colors I don't find in the Chatham recycling stream... Please, stop me before I buy a washing machine just for dyes.

See the March 2, 2008, blog entry for a bit more about making rugs and stash.

copyright 2006 Karen Tiede