This week, Roy has all his finished knitted squares ready to go, and has decided it is time to start joining them together (it did actually take him more than a week to knit them!). This is really easy to do, and you can even do it while watching TV. Roy thinks knitting can be done while watching TV too, because his Grandma does, but he and I aren't quite that good yet! The joining though really is easy. Come back next week to find out how to make a funky wrapping paper for if you decide to give your rug away as a gift.
You Will Need:
- Wool for joining, Roy used black
- Lots of safety pins
- A wool needle
- Scissors
- A crochet hook
- Time and patience
Method:
Note: Roy knitted 36 squared because he was going to make his rug a square with six squares on either side. He decided to make his rug 5 by 7 though so had one square left over. Why did he decide to make the rug 5 by 7? It made the rug big enough to wrap around him, instead of just being a lap rug. You can make yours however big you want though!
- Start by laying out your squares in a design you like. Roy and I suggest using a bed to do this because otherwise you have to get on your hands and knees!
- When you have a design you like, take a photo of the rug so that you can check it when you put the rows together to make sure you are doing it right!
- Now, use the safety pins to pin rows of squares together, in the right order.
- Cut a piece of wool and thread your wool needle.
- Next, start sewing the squares together in their rows. You will start the wool off at the corner of the squares and then use oversewing stitch to sew the squares together, two at a time.
- When you have sewn all the rows together, use the photo to put them back in the right order.
- Now, use your safetypins to pin the finished rows together in the right order and then sew the rows together as you did when you were sewing together individual squares. Roy sewed the rows together two at a time and then pinned the sections together and sewed the rest up.
- When you have finished sewing the squares together, use the wool needle to work the ends into the rug. You just need to slip them along into the rows if you are going to do a crocheted edge like Roy did. If you don't plan to crochet the edge you will need to finish them properly
- Now, if you like, you can crochet around the outside of the rug to make it a border like Roy did. Push the crochet needle through one of the outside stitches, wrap the wool around to make a 'stitch' and then use the hook to pull the stitch through the knitted stitch. Tie a double knot with the loose wool and the starting 'tail' to stop the stitch coming undone. Now, loop the wool around the needle once and pull it back through that stitch. Your crocheting is now started.
- Now, push the crochet hook through the next stitch along, wrap the black wool around the hook part and pull the wool through to the other side of the stitch. Wrap the wool around the needle again so it looks like there are three stitches on the crochet hook. Pull the final loop you made through the other two stitches. Repeat this process on every knitted stitch going all the way around the outside of the rug. At the corners, crochet three full stitches into the same hole to make the corner neat. If you like, you can do a couple of rows of crocheting to make a nice thick border - Roy did two rows.
- If you don't want to crochet around the outside of the rug, you could blanket stitch instead or just leave it as it is.
