Week 3 4/27- 5/4 Hula Hoop Rugs

This weekend I did a project with Aydan.  In this project we used hula hoops create rag rugs. I had attempted this prior to this weekend during the week using a pattern of sorts that I found here Hula Hoop rug.   I however found out  a few things while making this rug. 1) You need to find a way to secure your starting loops on the hula hoop. 2) You need to wrap loosely. 3) You have to have a child with extreme patients. That being said I will add how we did the project this weekend.


The first step of course is going to be to secure a hula hoop.  The family fun site suggests to use a 30 inch hula hoop. I honestly went to Walmart and grabbed one of each size that they had. They did not have  and identifying  marks as to how large they are. This being said  the one that I have Aydan using for this project is the smaller of the two.



You  are going to want to get the scissors or a cutting board out. You then take the material that you wish to use and cut it into 1-2 inch strips. We opted to use old sheets though t-shirts or any other material will work equally as well. The white strips shown below are from a woman's large t-shirt, we used white to that we can show a good comparison.

 One you have several strips cut you are going to want to place them crossing one another on the hula hoop.  The site listed above says to use 11, I think it depends on the size of hula hoop  and the size of the item  that you are trying to make.  For  this hula hoop I use 9 loops.

I secured each loop with packing tape because it makes it a lot easier to see which loop you are working with. This also makes it easier for kids to work with the materials also. 

It is important that when you are placing the base  loops that you make sure that two of the loops are next to one another. The reason being is that this will allow you to create an odd number of loops which is essential for the weaving process.

Next you are going to want to cut 1'-2'  strips of the material that you want  to use for you rug. To make it easy for Aydan I used all of the same color.  The material that I opted to use was a old full size  top  sheet. I folded it width wise  so that the cuts that I made were the whole length of the sheet.

You can cut up all of the material, because I was unsure of how much it was going to take for this project I cut up about half  of the sheet. (We did not end up using all of the material that I cut) You do want to make sure that you cut at least enough for this project because it dramatically increases the amount of time that you spend on the item.

Now to start. Remember when I said that you wanted to have two of the starter loops closer together? Well this is where is is important. First you tie the material that you are going to be using to the two that are close together. For right now you need to wrap these as one loop.  After you tie on you are ready to start weaving.

Basically you go over under over under all the way around. When you get half way around you will come to the opposite side of the project where there are two loops together. For this one, you will need to wrap them separately.

Scarlett wanted to help too, she just frustrated her brother.

Keep weaving

This is what the  project looks like after about 5  rounds of weaving.

He is still weaving.

When the project measures about 8 inches across (a  little big larger if you are making a bigger project) you want to separate all of the loops except for your beginning loop, that will be the only one that remains together. And then continue weaving until the rug is the desired size.

Once  you have reached the desired size cut each one of the loops, one at a time. As you cut each loop take both ends and tie them firmly together.

Once you have done this all the way around the only thing that you have left to do is manicure it a little.

It is personal preference whether or not you want to tuck all of the loops in. We chose to leave them out, I think that it gives the project a little bit of character. You can trim and weave them into the rug. It is all up to you. 

 Your Project is now done. I am also including some photos on what happens when you weave the project too tight.

It ends up looking like a bowl. I would make it into a pillow but I am sure that no one would cherish a rag pillow

Week 2 4/20-4/27

I have been getting use to this using social networks, 3 things that I have learned over this past week is that regardless of the time and energy that I put into projects that there is still always a need for more. I am still working on getting all of these sites in working order along with now being addicted to pintrest.  I am finding that I tag way more stuff than what I will ever have time or energy to make, especially having two children, Scarlett only being just 1. And finally that not all of the patterns and ideas that I gather from using online sources are working patterns.  Me and Aydan attempted to make rag rugs this week and somehow we failed miserably at it.  They ended up looking more like pillows, rag pillows? The sound of that is not nearly as appealing as rag rugs. We will be trying a variety of  different ways to do it this upcoming weekend, and I will make sure that I get some pictures up. :)

Getting Started Week 1

I have been attempting to sell some of my items on Etsy now for a few weeks. I recently added Pinterest to my list social interest sites. I have to admit that I was slightly reluctant to begin adding to the things to keep track of on the internet. But since I have had less than desired  results from Etsy alone I am starting to realize that my marketing strategies are less than desirable. So this weeks projects is to get with the times and add to my social media outlets. In many ways I have no clue what I am doing, I have no idea how to make banners or the population that I am trying to reach, I know that I need  think a lot more about this and take it into consideration. This being said it is now my project of this week is to create all of the social media sites and interlink them.. wish me luck!