www.littlehouserugs.com
Creating Heirlooms
Featured Rug of the Month--
April 2008
Miniature Landscapes from leftover yarns by Betty Calvert
I have always loved yarns and fabrics and have done a lot of sewing and knitting over the years. My sister-in-law introduced me to Kaffe Fassett's book "Glorious Knitting," which gives dozens of knitting projects for small amounts of leftover yarns. My daughter immediately picked out a sweater she liked and I began collecting more wool and knitting.
The great thing for these projects is that you need lots and lots of a variety of colours. Even if the weights are different you can combine yarns to make the heavier weight. Besides my own stash, I was given leftovers by family and friends and scoured yarn stores (especially sale bins).
The first sweater I made was the "Toothed Stripe" for Heather, and I also made a vest for her from the same design. The knitting was easy, just lots of colours. You work the ends in as you go.
We were both delighted with the results, so I decided to knit "Tumbling Blocks" in fall colours for myself. More wool! I knitted most of it while traveling in the car with my husband to see family half-way across the country. I sat in the passenger seat with a huge bag full of wool at my feet and worked out the colours as I went. As you can see from the picture, you can have many different colours to deal with in a single row. Keeping the yarns from tangling is the biggest challenge. Every time I wear the sweater I get compliments!
Not one to throw things away, I kept my leftovers (which were fairly short pieces in many cases). After taking up rug hooking, I was intrigued by an article by Jeanne Field in Rug Hooking Magazine (Nov/Dec 2003) on hooking postcard pictures using very fine cuts of wool fabric. I tried using my yarn instead of fine cut wool strips and found I really liked the result. I matted and framed the landscapes and have them hanging on the wall.
Betty Calvert, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website? E-mail me!
If your rug is featured, you will receive your choice of a copy of my book,
Landscape 4"x3"
Daffodils 3"x7"
