Vicky: Today we have, author of Simple Knits with a Twist here from Briton, England,
Erika Knight. Erika, I'm thrilled to have you here.
Erika: Thank you for inviting me Vicky.
Vicky: We're going to be doing this great woven rug. Let's talk about where we start yarn
wise.
Erika: Well with the yarn, as I said, you know is wonderful to use the textures and the
surfaces actually in the home. And the yarns actually to compliment or contrast
with them. So in here, these are just, we're going to be making tubes of knitting
here to make this rug. And these are just using little scraps and some balls of yarn,
but basically scraps, one that we have in your stash around the house anyway.
Vicky: So you just pull it from stash and go for it.
Erika: Just go for it. And really you might sort of have some colors in mind. You might
want to match a couch or contrast with a couch.
Vicky: So just free form it. I love that. So you're going to do these fantastic little strips
that actually are the same on both sides.
Erika: They are the same in both sides so there's no right side, there's no wrong side.
And they're just tubes of knitting and they are ashamedly very easy to do.
Vicky: Another thing about this, and I think must be just great for a rug is that you're
getting that extra sort of layer to make it nice and sturdy.
Erika: Well I think nice and steady, yes. And also with the texture are very clear. Again,
there's no right, there's no wrong side. And as you can see, you can use a cotton or
you can use wool. And lots of different combinations. And the flat against the
furry, the contrast is always very, very good.
Vicky: Okay. Alright, so, show us how we can make this tube happen.
Erika: So this tube is the simplest ever to make. It’s just really one row. And your first
stitch, you just knit in the conventional way, which is, as my grandmother taught
me, in-over-under-off. So that’s a regular sort of knit stitch. You bring the yarn
forward, but you slip the next stitch. You take the yarn back and you knit the next
stitch. You bring the yarn forward, slip it, you take it back.
Vicky: Okay, so all you need to know is you need to knit the next one, you bring the yarn
to the front, slip per wise.
Erika: That's right, but very important, this last stitch is that you actually slip that last
stitch.
Vicky: Okay.
Erika: An even number stitches is required, because however fat the yarn is, however fat
the needles are going to be, always have an even number of stitches. Because
basically you're slipping the stitch and knitting on the next row. That’s a little
trick, but it’s just the one row.
Vicky: And so you do the same thing on the other side?
Erika: I do exactly the same thing.
Vicky: Good to go.
Erika: You're ready to go.
Vicky: Love it. Alright, so you, I notice in the strips here, it looks like you got two
separate lengths here. Why?
Erika: Yeah, well just to make this small little rug which maybe great by the side of the
bed or you may want to do it in a different color combination, maybe black and
white, which is very contemporary in the bathroom. A small rug, so this would be
two lengths. One longer, and one little shorter.
Vicky: Any rules for the size?
Erika: No, not really, but just make them roughly about the same. But obviously, it
doesn’t matter on the yarns. Just do your own thing.
Vicky: Own thing, any size.
Erika: And this is like a bit like a recipe. You add your own cumin or basil. Then I'm a
bad cook.
Vicky: You're talking to me about cooking, wrong girl. Sorry.
Erika: So the next thing to do is actually to just weave these little strips.
Vicky: Over and under.
Erika: Just run over and under. I've done them in small sections so they are very, very
easy to saw together. And they can be sewn together just with a simple little
stitch. I've chosen a little contrast color here to show you. But in actual fact, if you
didn’t want it to show, you can do it in an exact same yarn. But if you did want it
to show, and you could actually make something of a decoration with a little cross
stitch or a little end you could leave these little ties. Which actually could be quite
fun.
Vicky: Very cute or you could switch it over, depending on your mood.
Erika: Absolutely. Or then you can add as many as you want. So you could do a small
rug, you could do a big rug.
Vicky: Do as you go then. Alright, and so this is what it looks like. I can't even express
how much I love this. This is so gorgeous.
Erika: Well it’s all made out of scraps, I think that's the beauty of it.
Vicky: It is.
Erika: I think just underneath you can put a little strip of rubber just to stop it slipping.
Vicky: Rubber so that it doesn't slip.
Erika: Absolutely.