So, I made this rug…

The rag rug has been my fire-breathing craft dragon for decades. I have attempted to slay it in many different methods, all to no avail. And then, I freaking googled the the problem. Now, I have a way to give a closet full of old sheets new life AND I only had to unravel it twice…but the middle is still kind of wonky. Still! It’s the biggest item I’ve ever made, and while my hands are kind of sore (because, you guys…I got kind of nuts and that rug is sort of massive, and I wanted to FINISH the thing…), I’m tickled with the result. The cat is doing some quality control, so I’ll keep you posted.

If this looks like something you want to try, you can visit sugarbeecrafts.com.

Besides just the personal satisfaction of finally making a rug that doesn’t look like a bowl or an amoeba, the repetition and counting of stitches was great for clearing my mind. There’s a lot going on right now–in the world, in my life, every where. There’s so much to be grateful for, so much good to focus on, even though the hard things are very much there, and sometimes a little scary. I found myself doing a lot of contemplation while I was making this rug…thinking about the room it was intended for, imagining the people who will come and laugh and play music in our house, wondering if we can fit another something on one of the walls.

I’m not one of those people who can just tune out entirely, and let my hands do the work. No, I have to count stitches and watch what I’m doing, and just like in my yoga practice, once I can just dissolve into counting or breathing, I’m able to sort of declutter all the little piles of worry or fretfulness in my head. Sometimes I would pray, sometimes I would just find myself muttering numbers out loud…and switch, one, two, three, four five, and switch…it was good to slow down like that.

Plus, we got a giant rug essentially for free. Yay. I’m sure the lint, at least, will last a lifetime.

–rmgj

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