Toothbrush rug instructions

[Otter]

I was trying not to craft, but between the awesome rag rug thread, my current stress levels and a neighbor giving me a box of stained sheets (roof leak onto a storage box ) I can't help myself.

I want to do an oval one. I've been trying to teach myself, found a lovely article, with pictures, but I am missing something.
So I went online to look for videos, and found there are excellent videos of a style with 2 strips of fabric, which is not what I want, and not-great videos of the stitch that uses only one strip of fabric.

Does anyone have an instructional site they can recommend?

[Otter]

Thank you!
homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/thread/2658/toothbrush-rug-instructions?page=1&scrollTo=39994

Now, I think part of the problem is I'm doing it lefty, and not properly flipping the pictures in my head, but I can't get the fabric to stay over my (right)thumb. The whole thing just feels like I'm doing an unnecessary amount of twisting everything around.

So I went to this;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-aUpWQ_JA

That got me through the first stitch, and I almost understood everything, but then, when she'd explaining how to do every other stitch in the rug, if you skip to 12:27, I cannot make out which loops are A,B,C and D.  Her hands are turned so if I was sitting next to her, i could, but of course I'm not, and most videos for this style have that flaw

My brain is going;
Ok, in A, got it, got it ... over what? What part should that be? ok, in C... this looks like C? maybe? ...back to twisting, ok, I can do that ...crap! There is nothing over my thumb!

[Otter]

Whoops! Don't know how I managed that
thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/sp81g.htm

[Otter]

Thanks so much!

if I manage anything other than a tangle, it will be thanks to you. I'll post pics

[Otter]

@redfish I finally found a decent video of the method I was trying for, if you are curious.
I have about 4 inches done of the stitch you suggested and it's coming along nicely and I'm getting faster with it already.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RE_T-JpZqM

I will learn this method, eventually, it looks like it gives a thick, comfy rug. But I am very happy with my little project, it is easy and soothing and pretty, just what I needed.

[Otter]

It's wild isn't it? So many ways to get the same thing, it's like a snapshot of human ingenuity.

If I get good at it, I will!
My rug is coming along great! It has one little bubble close to the center where I made a mistake, but it smoothed out a lot once I stopped using markers to tell me where to do the increases for the oval and decided to just wing it and throw in an extra stitch wherever it looked like it needed one.
It came to a pause when I went to switch colors and decided I just didn't like the way ripped up sheet #2 looked with it. Flat, they looked great, but one is a big floral and twisted up the colors didn't go. Which is cool to learn in itself! So later on today when we're in town I'm picking up a package of dye

DD really likes the way it looks, and I just happened to have some orange dye (her favorite color)so yesterday I dyed up a sheet to start her one. And DS is really trying to learn how to do it. Who would have thought the gift of a box of slightly mildewed sheets would be so much fun?

[Otter]

It is done!


It was my friend Sue who had given me the sheets. She has a lot of little rag rugs everywhere, and if she had liked this one, I was going to give it to her. I never even got a chance to show her. So this is a very special rug, even though it wobbles a bit.

And it was instantly Cat Approved. In fact, from the moment it was big enough to fit a cat, every time I put it down, there was a cat on it. When it got closer to done, I had to keep tossing a cat off it on my lap to keep turning it.
Pictured is Romeo, aka The Most Beautiful Cat in the World. His color is called chocolate tabby. He's a pretty big boy, the rug is just the size you'd want in front of a sink.

The center color was the colored edge of the dust ruffle in a large floral pattern. The rest is a sheet I dyed purple with Rit. I accidentally didn't put in quite enough water which gave the sheet a kind of tie-dye effect, which I really liked, and I think came out nicer than if it was a solid, dark purple. I'll likely do it again on purpose.

[Otter]

I dyed a ripped sheet orange to start one for DD I'm going to sit with that video and see if I can manage that other method.

[Deleted]

The form of stitch you are talking about is called nalbinding. It is mostly used for a form of yarn work but some people have adapted it to use with thicker fabrics. Check nalbinding out on youtube. Check out amish knot rugs they are wasir and faster to make and look just as lovely.

[Otter]

Thanks guys, I'll check it out