Toothbrush Rugs

So I get a call from my wonderful friend Patricia one day wanting to know if I've ever made a toothbrush rug. A what? So she carries on about how cool they are and tells me exactly how to make them well me being me with my I can do that attitude break out a set of sheets that are folded and put away. I start tearing away and my poor husband comes in the door to see me in my chair with a pile of strips and asks what are you doing? Well Patricia said you can make rugs out of gently used sheets so I thought why not she says all I have to do is this...... The next thing you know I have this wonderful and beautiful bowl. Well come on I can crochet a rug this has to be close what am I doing wrong.

Patricia comes over a couple days later after I have made several attempts at these beautiful rugs. She finds me sitting in my chair with one on my head and I tell her this one really would make a lovely sun hat what do you think? After she is done laughing at me she explains that she read somewhere that you have to add stitches. I let her know that I had figured that out hence the brim of my new sun hat. So after watching me struggle because I had decided to make a couple as gifts for friends she decided to try it. We laughed and laughed at our sun hats.
Deidre

I fell in love with these two rugging techniques I discovered over Easter vacation. My husband, myself, our child and our golden retriever set out across Kansas to Missouri. We were to spend Easter with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. It’s about 14 hours from Denver to my parent’s house. 14 very very very long hours driving with a husband, a child and a dog. I was so board, even my crocheting my scrubbies didn’t entertain me, and forget trying to do my needle point while in the car with the boy kicking the back of the seat.

So to make the trip more enjoyable for me (I to realize this is what made it a full 14 hour drive) I made my husband stop at all the crafty craft places in Kansas. Do you know how many there are? Oh my, yarn must be the unknown craft industry of Kansas. Everywhere you look on that stretch of road between Salina and the Colorado line there are yarn store bill boards. Huge signs blaring at me “STOP HERE”, “BUY MORE YARN”, “AGRIVATE YOUR HUSBAND”. Of course these signs are all mixed in with antique signs making the same subliminal statements to me. So, to be fair on the way to my parents, who by the way live thirty minutes past the end of the world, I stopped at all the antique stores. Too fun! My husband and son got into in at picked out nice gifts for my parents (in-between stops there was lots of grumbling from the husband). Now on the way back home for the second 14 hour long drive we stopped at all the craft type shops. OH MY!!!! Yarn, Yarn, Yarn and quilting fabrics! It was so much fun.

The point is I discovered and fell instantly in love with this type of rugging called locker hooking. Locker hooking is nothing (well maybe slightly like) hook rugs. Beautiful rugs. I had the lady explain the whole process and bought some of the special hooks I needed. I’ll explain the hooks at a later date. When I got home I went to work researching these rugs. Let me tell you there is not much out there on them. But, what I do find is info on another primitive form of rugging called the toothbrush rug. It was very interesting and seemed easy enough. Some times I like a project that you can see fast growth in and these rugs do that. You get started and BAMN your half way done. But, at that half way mark is also when they slow down to a crawl.

Anyway I thought the history of how the rugs were made was interesting. They are called toothbrush rugs because people used an old toothbrush handle carved into a needle to work the strips. Originally the needle may have been made from bone or wood. These rugs have been around a long time and were a great way to re-use fabrics no longer usable for clothing.

The knotting of the rugs makes them very sturdy, durable even with already worn fabrics and full of rich texture. You never know when you start how the pattern of the fabric will look in the knots or what colors will become prominent. There is defiantly some trial and error in making these rugs and you have to be able to be flexible with how the rug will come out.

Deidre and I have had a great time learning to make the rugs and working out our own designs. I hope soon you will be seen more intricate patterns and shapes.

Patricia