Wednesday, June 2, 2010

make your own rag coasters

rag coasters, 3

These practical coasters are quick and easy to make, using scrap or recycled materials. You require only basic crochet skills.

You will need:

  • rag strips cut to 1 inch thick - see my tutorial here

  • kitchen string

  • 7.0mm crochet hook

  • 4.0mm crochet hook

IMPORTANT TIP: keep your stitches loose when working with rags, or you will have difficulty inserting the hook to make stitches

material and hook

Begin with an Adjustable Magic Ring.

round 1

round 1 - ch1, 10sc into ring, pull tail to tighten, join to 1st sc with a ss.

round 2

round 2 - ch1, inc in each st, join to 1st sc with a ss (20sc)

round 3

round 3 - ch1 [inc, sc] repeat to end, join to 1st sc with a ss (30sc)

progress

use 4.0mm hook to weave in ends

finished

round 4 - use 4.0mm hook and kitchen string, work sc into each stitch from round 3, join to 1st sc with a ss (30sc)

P6010033

weave in ends and you're done!

24 comments:

Mosaic Magpie said...

Great tutorial. I checked out the strip cutting technique, great idea.
Debbie

Kristy said...

These look great! You should post a link in the trash to treasures group.

misha said...

Veeery nice! Thanks! (leaves the stage to look for rags...)

L said...

Fun!

Guanaja Sharon said...

The tutorial was great but after cutting material, rolling it in a ball, it did not want to stop twisting and that was a pain, and then crocheting with that wide strip of material which was not the easiest thing to do, I decided that this was not worth all the effort. I loved your picture of the end product but I would prefer to make coaster with cotton yarn as this was way too much work. I'll keep my left over cotton scraps for rag rugs.
Thanks for the posting though, you made a beautiful coaster.

Sharon Maher said...

hey sharon...

just LET IT twist... it's actually easier to crochet when it it twisted, and the results are fabulous

hope you'll try again :)

Sharon Maher said...

hey L...

fun... and FAST!!! gotta love that

Sharon Maher said...

misha...

the wonderful thing is... you don't need much fabric for these

Sharon Maher said...

hey kristy...

I will... haven't been visiting there for a little bit, so I must head over and check out what's happening

see you there :)

Sharon Maher said...

thanks debbie...

so many wonderful things to create with rags!

Kyliie said...

Love them!!!!! Thank you so much!

Sharon Maher said...

kylie - you're welcome... I hadn't originally planned to put the pattern up... it just seemed so straight forward to me... but people seem to love it! it's already been added to about 50 ravelry queues, lol!

Lisa said...

I definitely plan on making these but I just had one question. I've crocheted for years but had never heard of an adjustable Majic Ring. I found a beautifully illustrated demo here: http://www.crochetme.com/forums/t/28917.aspx

Thanks for the fun pattern. Can't wait to make one for my desk at work!

~Lisa

Fisher said...

This looks like a pretty easy pattern to follow and with the small size it should be easy for a beginner as well.

I think that I will give it a try and see if I can make it work.

Celeste Schwerin said...

Mornig Guys, your website is hard to find, but i found your blog with the bing search, i like your design and your information, thanks friends

MubMaj said...

Hi Sharon. Thats a nice pattern, especially loved your coasters in the pic. I was searching for coaster patterns and loved these the best, mainly coz it uses rag.
Gonna make one soon!
Thanx for sharing!

yarn_lady said...

hi I like this pattern a lot but you have added kitchen string as part of materials but haven't said what for? Thanks for sharing a neat idea.

laughing purple goldfish said...

hey yarn_lady...

the final round is worked in kitchen string, instead of fabric... just creates a fun border :)

Leyla - Silk and Wool said...

Hi Sharon! I love the pattern and the idea, but the link to the cutting technique seems to be broken...

laughing purple goldfish said...

Thanks Leila. I've updated the link. Thanks for letting me know!

Collin and Sam said...

Can I make some to sell?

laughing purple goldfish said...

Yes.

Of course you may make some to sell - Good luck!

Anonymous said...

LOVE It. !!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to try this! What a wonderful use for old shirts that may have been worn by a loved one. Nice little keepsake. :0)