# How to crochet a rug from roving?



## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I was talking to someone that said they just crochets rugs from roving and I thought that sounded really fun. However, what I have right now is actually an Icelandic fleece, not roving, and I haven't crocheted anything for years. 

Can anyone give me some ideas how to get started? The fleece doesn't seem very oily with lanolin. How much preparation would it need to be ready to crochet? I think its pretty clean. 

She said that she just gets a really big crochet hook and uses the roving, can I just start in with the raw fleece pulling some out and going at it? 

She also said that she washed her rugs to lightly felt them after crocheting, I think I can manage that, I've started playing with felting knitted garments to use the felted wool for other projects. 

Anyone have an idea how large a rug one fleece would make? I can probably get more from some of my friends for reasonable prices if working with this one is fun. (It was a gift to me and I wanted to do something with it!)

Thanks for any ideas or help you all have!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I think I'd card it first, or have it turned into roving. I suspect it may fall apart if you just pick out some and crochet. I think you would want to get as much dirt out of it as possible, and any straw. If you are going to wash it afterwards to felt, I suppose that would also get out alot of dirt. DH has a rug crocheted from roving. it's very nice on the feet.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

So how do you turn it into roving?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Carol - I've taken some clean raw fleece and wove a rug from it. it is holding together beautifully. The icelandic fleece, will you be using the tog or the thel (one is the fluffy, short stable fiber, the other the longer fiber, but I can't for the life of me remember which is which! I'm proud that I actually remembered the names!!)

The longer fiber (I _think_ it is the thel) will be very durable as a rug. If you combine them, the tog should give better felting ability. I would wash the fleece then just pick up the fiber and crochet it as is. Then fill the bath tub with hot soapy water and felt it. Lay it out and block to dry.

I think working with fleece directly will give you a beautiful rug! Be sure to post pictures!!


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## lisarichards (Dec 6, 2004)

What a great idea. I've been teaching myself to spin, using roving from my Icelandics from two years ago. I haven't had much time, though, so I still have bags and bags of the stuff. They spin a really pretty yarn, but I have a lifetime supply that way. 

I think I might try to make some rugs or blankets with them by crocheting them. I might try dying them first, even, rather than just using the white.

I haven't done anything with 2006 fleeces yet, except sold a few. I gave some away to some ladies in my spinning class.

What a great idea. It's so soft, it might actually make blankets rather than rugs, though. I think I will experiment.


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## MTDeb (Feb 20, 2003)

Sorry, I didnt' get back to you sooner, grannycarol, the holidays and all that got in the way. 

Anyways, I've made a few of these rugs from roving now and when I do it, I card the fleece on a drum carder. I think it's easier to work with roving than locks and the smoother and more consistent your roving is, the smoother and more consistent your rug comes out. Some people like the more primitive look. It's just a matter of what you like. 

I do think though that the longer the length of the lock, the easier it would be to work from locks and the more durable it would be. I bet icelandic would be wonderful! Another good one would be Navajo-Churro. 

So, far, I've been making these rugs for the bathroom so I've been using my columbia x targhee which is really soft but probably not so durable. It feels so good on your bare feet coming out of the tub.

It takes quite a bit or roving to make a rug. But, again, that depends on what you want. The thicker the roving is, the more you're going to use. You can make it as thick or thin as you want. I think I had 2 pounds of roving carded up and I used about all of that for one bathroom rug. BUT, different sheep's wool are going to further than others, so it's hard to judge. 

I'll go dig out the pattern i used and give you some more details. Be back in a bit.


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## MTDeb (Feb 20, 2003)

You can turn your fleece into roving by carding or combing the locks. Another way to use your fleece without spinning is to do locker hooking which is a whole 'nother subject.  

For the oval rugs I made, I used a Q hook, so it goes pretty fast. 

Here's the basic pattern I used. They used rag strips but I used roving, of course. http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa100299.htm

I used the Q hook instead of the J or K that they said, it goes a lot faster. 

They used single crochet and I used HDC (half-double crochet). I think it makes it thicker.

I followed the pattern for the first 7 rows but then I just crocheted around and around and if it was getting a little tight around the edge would add a stitch or two. I think the pattern is what keeps it from curling up. 

Anyways after that I just HDC around and around until I got it the size I wanted. Then, I threw it in the washer and dryer and it felted up a bit and it made it a bit denser. You have to be careful with that though cause some wools felt a LOT easier than other wools do. 

The nice thing about crocheting is that you can pull it out easily if you don't like it!! :dance: 

I'll post a picture of one of the finished rugs, when and if I can figure out how to post a picture here.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions, MTDeb (and others!). The pattern would be awesome, good for me and anyone else that is interested in trying it. Then I'll have to get a crochet hook...


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

MTDeb - can't wait to see a pic. To post one you need to upload your photo to some website and then link to it

For example, the picture of the mother of all for the great wheel that MOgal sent me, I uploaded it to my website (or you can use any photo website) at http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/gwmoa.jpg

In the advanced posting mode, click on the icon of a mountain pic and insert your url to your pic or if you want to do it manually, enclose the URL in open bracket *[* "img" (without quotes) close bracket *]*, then the URL of picture. next open bracket *[* "/img" (without quotes) close bracket *]*

piece of pie! 
"







" (without the quotes)

turns into


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## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

There is actually a book out there on crocheting rugs straight from the locks. I ran across it playing on Amazon, but I didn't save it and don't remember the name.....

Meg


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## MTDeb (Feb 20, 2003)

Thanks Cyndi! That's a lot easier than trying to figure it out for myself!!

Here's a picture, I hope it's resized. I hand dyed the washed wool with acid dyes and then when I was carding it into roving, I blended in some of the colors. It's got more of the primitive look.  Hope this works.....


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

That's really pretty!! I want one now!  How much wool did it take to make? How big is it?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I like that!!! Hmmm, which to use - icelandic or cotswold?? decisions decisions!


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Hi , Ross' wife not Ross. the other thing you can do is weave with roving. i saw a picture of one somewhere and it had that same pebbly look that the crocheted one did. Naturally I can't find the link. i will keep looking for it
Ann


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## Laci (Feb 4, 2004)

I think crocheting a rug out of the locks would be great. I've made rugs out of roving, and it does take a lot, and roving tends to be more expensive than fleece, so from a thrifty viewpoint, crocheting from fleece would be the better option, lol. 

I also wanted to mention that I met a lady from Idaho who raises Icelandic sheep, and she doesn't know how to spin, but she knits fluffy, very long wearing SOCKS out of the locks....haven't tried it yet, but it's on my to-do list!

Marcy


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I've started playing with my Icelandic fleece today. I don't know a whole lot about this, but I am having fun! Having read several methods of washing the fleece, I am experimenting with mine to see if I can get it clean (it wasn't brown as I had thought, but gray and it smelled like a barnyard! oops!) and have usable fiber that I think I can crochet with. I don't have the crochet hook yet, going to get that Monday, but my daughter is home for a couple of days and she is the one that likes to crochet afghans and can help me decipher the pattern. 

I've groomed dogs for the last 32 years, so I am using much of the equipment of my dog grooming shop to prepare the wool in. I'm not totally sure what I need to have to work with, though I have actually seen roving and seen it spun, so I know what it looks like. I figure anything that gets my wool clean, dry and somewhat like that will work great. It may take me weeks...  However, I am enjoying myself and I think I'm making progress getting clean fiber that will be easy to use. 

When you say "locks", what state exactly is the wool in? I think I may be doing a lot more than I need to to prepare my fleece - I'd actually rather not really take weeks getting it ready, unless I have to!


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## Somerhill (Dec 13, 2005)

lisarichards said:


> What a great idea. I've been teaching myself to spin, using roving from my Icelandics from two years ago. I haven't had much time, though, so I still have bags and bags of the stuff. They spin a really pretty yarn, but I have a lifetime supply that way.


For they lifetime supply, why not send it out to a fiber mill to be washed and processed into roving? Its not that expensive, and then you can start right away to dye and crochet the rugs. 
Cheaper in the long run than just giving away the wool, or losing it to moths. 

Sounds like a fun way to use up lots of wool.  

Lisa at Somerfhill
www.somerhillfarm.com


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

A lock is one section of wool that naturally falls together. It is wide at the end closest to the sheep and tapers to a point at the other. The long curly or wavy bits you see used as embellishments usually locks. This explanation usually makes most sense if you are looking at the unwashed fleece. People often separate out some nice locks from a fleece to hand was carefully so they retain there shape. 
If you have dog grooming supplies you have what you need to give processing a try. 
You can use 2 slicker brushes as hand cards. I can do it but I don't think I could explain it well. Perhaps someone here has a link to how to card. You could make rolags. These are created by rolling the wool off the card into a tube. Usually you spin from one end. but you could stretch them out a bit and crochet with them. You could use a drum carder and either tare the bat into strips or use a diz to make it into roving. I have seen it done but have never done it. Most people find hand carding to much trouble for large quantities and send it out to be processed. Having said that I have a friend who hand cards and blends everything she spins. You may find you enjoy it. 
If you want to separate the thel (soft under coat) from the tog (long hair like outer coat) then you need either Viking or English combs. These can be quite dangerous if not used correctly so you would need to learn that skill from someone. 
A spinning guild is the best place to learn all this. Some guilds have equipment to rent out. Mine has 2 types of drum carders and some English combs and I think some hand cards. A small guild might have a member who would rent or lend you some things to try or show you how to use what you have. 
Ann


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## feedbunns (Jul 6, 2013)

GrannyCarol said:


> So how do you turn it into roving?


You card it . by hand you would have Rolags. On a drum carder you would have roving .


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Look up arm knitting. Its crocheting with you fingers


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