When Disaster Strikes
By: Melissa Ludden Hankens
May 2011
I was hoping that my return from maternity leave would be triumphant, but instead I find myself sharing a weaving horror story. This month's project was nearly ruined in the washing machine. My first thought was to shelve the wreck and weave something else, but I managed to salvage most of it and decided that the experience was worth sharing. After all, we often learn more from our mistakes than our successes, right?
I find myself in love with the idea of weaving textiles for my home. As we continue to renovate our house, I imagine some touch of weaving in each room. I love the thought that I can experience both the visual and tactile pleasure that a handwoven item gives no matter where I am. As a room is finished, I want it to be graced with its very own handwoven, "ta da".
I have had in my mind for some time to weave a rug using rya knots to create a shaggy pile. I was inspired by Kristin Winander's inlay rag rug in "The Big Book of Swedish Weaving" by Laila Lundell. Kristin uses cotton rags of various sizes to create a raised hourglass shape on a rectangular rug.
As often as possible, I like to use what I have on hand. My rug wool stash was looking slim, and I wanted to use something with real heft so that this rug would be fun for your feet. I also wanted it to be easily cleanable in the washing machine, because with a baby crawling around the house, I have little time for things that are fussy. I turned to that which I have in abundance: t-shirts.
I used about 2/3 each of 10 different t-shirts cut into 1" x 4" strips. This is the perfect job for a rotary cutter. I simply set the t-shirt on my cutting mat, and using the grid as a guide, cut my strips.
I wondered if cutting with or against the grain would make a difference. I cut two test strips, and washed and dried them. The sample cut against the
Baby Benjamin on rug with t-shirt strip rya knots
grain shed little bits of cotton more than the sample cut with the grain, but it curled less. I decided not to worry about which way the grain was going and focus on maximizing my material. I hate to waste much of anything.
The shirts I selected were a variety of colors and weights. I would recommend avoiding shirts with a lot of surface design where the printed design was applied to the shirt, making the fabric thicker and stiffer in areas. Beefy tees are harder to work with than softer/thinner tees. I would recommend using shirts that are approximately the same weight. This will give you more even rows of knots and help prevent any little knots from coming loose.
After the strips were cut, I tossed them all in a paper bag and mixed them together. I wanted the distribution of color to be random. As I wove, I took a handful of strips and placed them in my Wolf Trap for easy access. I forced myself to use all of the strips before getting a new handful. Being deliberate with your placement of color could create a very interesting version of this rug, though.
Rya knots are easy to tie. Place your strip of fabric over two warp ends so that the ends are hanging down through the warp. Then bring the ends up through the space between the warp threads, and cinch in place.
After each row of knots, I threw three picks of 3/2 cotton weft to help secure the knots in place. Next time I will use cotton carpet warp as I think it