T Shirt Rag Rug

So, we live in a cement block house with tile floors. We were blessed that this house came with 4 rugs!  But I have been wanting one for our room for a while now.  Believe it or not, the floor is awfully cold in the morning and it would be nice to have a rug to stand on while we get dressed.

Well, I finally got around to making one out of old t shirts.  Yeah, you read that right! Old t shirts.  I had collected the ones from Noah that needed to be moved on and thought I had enough.  Ha!  I think there ended up being about 45 shirts in this rug (it's about 4 feet wide.)

So here's the deal.  First you have to make what the Internet calls tarn.  You know, like yarn but with a t because it's made from t shirts.  Here's the tutorial I used on how to go about this.  And honestly, this was my least favorite part.  But a couple of things I learned about making the tarn:

1. The bigger the shirt the better.  Yeah, I know that's really a no brainier, but if you end up having to go to the thrift store (like I did) for more shirts, look for XXXL!  Also, long sleeve t shirts are great, because you can use the sleeves the same way you did the body of the shirt.  Oh, and don't over look yoga pants and skirts for this project too!!
2. Some shirts didn't stretch right.  Yeah, again, sorta a no brainier, but some didn't curl the way they were "suppose" to.  No worries, it just gives a different texture.  Some of the shirts I got ended up being ribbed when I stretched them.  It added a cool texture to those rows.
3.  Think about your colors.  Or don't. Just go with it.  I tried to have some rhythm and reason to what I was doing, but towards the end, it just became about getting around the circle with colors that were similar!  Seriously, those last rows took 2 whole shirts to make it around once.  You might want to plan accordingly.

Now, how did I actually put it together?  Giant crochet hook!  Well, not super giant, but I think I used about a 9.  And it crochets up really fast.  Each row is about an inch wide.  Be prepared for your hand to hurt after a while and know too that the rug gets really heavy!  Also, depending on the shape you want for your rug, you'll need to look up the formula for that shape.  Here's a good video on how to make a flat circle.

Just this morning, Noah looked at me and said, "I am really glad you spent 48 hours to make that rug.  It's nice to stand on."  Ha!  Well, good.  Con gusto mi amor!