T-Shirt Doily Rug

So, after knitting a couple trivets with old t-shirts I had laying around the house, I took myself to the Goodwill to get more t-shirts for something a little more exciting!

They had a ton of Hanes t-shirts, so I grabbed 10, not knowing what I would do with them.

Hanes Men's Large ComfortSoft t-shirts

I brought them home and sent them through the washer and dryer (the guy at the Goodwill told my they were brand new, but stuff I get at thrift stores grosses me out, so I gave them a wash before doing anything with them). I chopped them up into yarn and got a TON of yardage, more than I was expecting! Each shirt gave me between 21-22 yards, so all together I had over 200 yards of t-shirt yarn (or "tarn").

After a little internet sleuthing, I found this super cute Rug pattern by Julie Weisenberger of Coco Knits, that is intended to be knit out of rag yarn cut up from an old bedsheet, but I had enough yardage to knit it with my tarn! Insert a trip to Michael's here with my 40% off coupon, because I didn't have size 19 needles long enough to knit the rug. $4.06 for a pair of jumbo blue knitting needles and I was ready to go!

Here's a picture of what half of the t-shirts looked like wound into one ball of yarn, compared to a 14" knitting needle. I wound them into 2 balls, because if I had wound it all into one, it would have been a Monster ball of yarn!!

This pattern was really fun to knit, and it only took a few hours! I only ended up using about 8 shirts worth of the yarn, so I still have some leftover.

The finished size ended up around 33" from point to point across the top, and about 15" deep, a pretty decent sized rug! I haven't decided where it's going to live yet, maybe outside my bathtub? Anyway, I'm really pleased with how it turned out, I want to make more!!

t-shirt to trivet upcycling

What do you do with old t-shirts that you don't wear anymore? Ask Pinterest. I used this tutorial on cutting t-shirts to make yarn, which was super easy and fast, and I turned one old purple shirt that was worn out and had a couple of stains into a ball of yarn and knit a trivet!

 All I did was cast on 18 stitches on size 10 needle, and knit every row until I had a square.

 The t-shirt I used had side seams, so it's a little messy, I'd like to make more, but I'll have to make a trip to a thrift store to stock up on shirts. Over all I think it turned out well, very think and cushy, I'm not sure if it would work for a hot pad, I'd have to try out it's heat-protective abilities! :)