Are you ever looking for things to do with your old T-shirts? Look no further. Michelle, our knitting expert and my fabulous roommate has the answer: kitchen rugs!

Wendy's testing out the new rug!

She made a beautiful one for our apartment, and I set out to  copy her genius do the same for a friend.  I loved that it was a great way to reuse material I already had on hand, particularly old undershirts that were too gross to go to Salvation Army.

Michelle was inspired by her favorite knitting book, Mason Dixon Knitting.  The book discusses making rugs using potholders that you can buy in a craft store.  What does a potholder look like? A big circle, or the bottom of a T-shirt cut off in a tube shape!  She quickly cut up her old T- shirts and knitted away.

This is the perfect beginner’s knitting project, and it can be completed in just a couple of hours, which agrees with the side of me that needs instant satisfaction.  I had to pull the knitting out a few times to get the exact size I wanted, but since I was using such big needles, it was easy.

Here’s what you’ll need to complete it at home:

1. BIG knitting needles. We used a size 20.

2. A bunch of T-shirts, maybe 7-10 in a variety of colors.

3. Scissors

To begin:

1. Take you first T-shirt, and cut across the bottom, so the result is a tube.  Continue to cut these, about ½ inch tubes all the way up the shirt, until you reach the armpits.

Step 1

When you have a bunch, you can begin to make your ball of yarn.  You’ll need to link all of the tubes together.  To do so:

Step 1: Place the top of one tube in front of the bottom of another.

Step 2: Loop the bottom of the back tube (white material) around the top of front tube (black material)

Step 2

Step 3: Pull bottom that’s now in front (white material) up and back through itself, to make a knot connecting the two.

Pull tight and continue to make a chain.

Roll the chain into a ball, as you would with regular   yarn. Cast on.  I cast on 16 stitches. Knit until you’ve  reached the desired width!

The hardest part for me was figuring out how to loop them together.  I have a video of that, which we can’t figure out how to upload, if you think that will help – email us and we’ll send! The rest was easy.  The best thing about this rug? It’s 100% washable.  I think I’m going to make one in white for the bathroom, too!

All done!