45 kg

Lappala arrived into our life in the way She is and has been all these years. She has also plenty of old traditional rag rugs. Last time I brought home for about 45 kg of rag rugs. You know I discovered the self service laundry opening this summer in Kemi. I didn't even try to wash Lappala's rugs by my own hands. I was happy to be able to use the self service laundry.

Now the washed rag rugs are at home. I was so pleased 24 Pesula has also the drying cabinets. At this time of the year when the autumn colors are arriving, drying rugs at home is almost impossible. We have spread the rag rugs around to let them breathe. Breathe? Yep. They should breathe before I roll them up and back into the bags. They were warm when getting out from the drying cabinet. You need to be 110 % sure the textiles are dry until you storage them. Otherwise they start to stink and may even mildew.

But, this is not all. I still have at least another 45 kg of rag rugs in Lappala waiting for to get into the self service laundry! 90 kg of rag rugs is quite many rag rugs. Why Lappala needs so many? You will see that later.💙

WeekendRagRug

On summer 2024 my loom faced a disaster by Copy&Paste. On September 2024 I fixed the damage but after that I must have done some more fixing. See the black yarn...

Copy&Paste are about to come over for a few week visit so I decided to finish the remaining warp and the last rag rug. I decided to call it Weekend because it is made of weft rhythm 7/5 and included double stripes (Saturday and Sunday).

It was quite interesting because I was not quite sure how long the remaining warp was and how much weft I had for the rag rug so that it will be matching to HallwayRagRug. But, at the end I was there. It is exactly 2,5 meters long.

Only this (40cm) of the warp was left over from my 30 meters warp we set up on my loom on May 2021. That's 4 years ago! We've woven so many rag rugs of it! 

Here it is. FashionNOW rag rug. For this I used old recycled linen and cotton clothes, LP-yarn (80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers) and textile industry left over material. Only the warp is brand new 100% cotton like in all these rag rugs I have made of this 30 meter long warp. Both Nuka and Pii seem to love it like they love the weekends! Unfortunately they can get it only when the snow falls.

VerandaRagRugs

These 3 rag rugs I designed and made for our veranda. The veranda has 30 years old rugs, which still are ok and in use. For the arriving winter we need just thicker so I made extra triplet for cold season use. I have used old recycled linen and other home textiles plus old t-shirts and LP-yarn (80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers) for these rugs. 

These two smaller ones will be placed by the doorsteps. Now you have seen all the 8 rag rugs I made summer 2024 following FashionNOW trend: HallwayRagRugs, PinkRagRug. NauticalRagRug, LibraryRagRugs and these 3 ones seen in this post for our veranda.

LibraryRagRugs

For our library I designed and made two rag rugs. This little one is meant to be placed under His rocking chair.

The longer one is designed to be placed at the front of the wood bench on which the dogs love to sleep. They sleep alone or still even together on it despite they hardly fit on anymore.

For both rag rugs I've used old recycled linen, old shirts and left over weft from YoungLady's project in 2020.

NauticalRagRug

I designed nautical-style rag rug for our living room. It is custom made for a certain part of the house like all the other rag rugs I've woven. For this one I have used textile industry left over material, old recycled linen and t-shirts. 

Also this one needs to wait in a safe place for the snow to arrive. Despite they are for different rooms they create ensemble set of home decoration and the spirit of FashionNOW.

PinkRagRug

Another rag rug has been taken off from the cloth roller of my loom. It is a bit girlish and includes so many memories of me & Young Lady. It is my own design but born with the idea that I have only a limited amount of each recycled material.

It is made of textile industry left over material, old recycled linen, t-shirts and tricot sleepwear. Only the warp is made of brand new yarn. Because it includes my and YoungLady's old clothes from the time she was LittleLady it includes so many memories despite it is a brand new home decoration textile! It is FashionNOW and brings us happy memories!

Now it is rolled up and placed in a safe place to wait until the snow arrives. Then I plan to place it on our kitchen floor to bring some cheerful color into the arctic Polar Night Season.

HallwayRagRug

I designed and made this rag rug. The warp is made of brand new black 100 % cotton yarn. It is necessary to use it for rag rugs to make sure it all will stay firm together and last decades.

It is approx 2,5 meters long and 70 cm wide. It has 3 sections and it is designed for our hallway. The black warp is practical because it looks neater longer.

One end of the rag rug is darker than the other because it will be placed closer the doorway. I have used old recycled linen, LP-yarn (80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers) and left over weft from YoungLady's project in 2020 and textile industry left over material.

More than 50 % of the used materials are recycled. Rag rugs are always in fashion. If they are made in the traditional way like I do (recycled materials) they follow mega hot FashionNOW trend.

 

When you make your rag rugs proper they last for decades: even used recycled materials. Now I've roll up this beauty to sleep for a while. We will wait for the snow until placing it on the floor to prevent it to be dirty immediately because of the muddy paw prints!

CutOff

It has been exhausting job for dear Pii to share her loom for common good. I have no time to weave all the time but she do enjoys for the moments I stop.

It all just amuses dear Nuka who loves to observe what all is going on in the world; near or far. Little-big-Pii is still her baby. Nuka doesn't get tempered easily but if someone upsets her baby she begins to get heated on, except if it is something that happens because of us humans. 

It has been a long way to weave rugs. There is now -I think 8- rag rugs around the cloth roller. The cloth roller turn out a bit heavy but I could easily roll on one more.

Except one more doesn't fit in anymore. There just is no room for anymore to warp anything around the cloth roller. I am quite surprised for how many rugs there are room around the cloth roller in my tiny looms. Originally I put on 30 m warp at the covid spring 2020. Many have been finished  but usually taken off after one or two. 

This time I could weave as many as needed or fit around the cloth roller because we won't place these rag rugs on the floors until the snow arrives. 

Now it all waits me there until next week when I should have time to take them all off one by one and tie the finishing knots.

NotYet

 

I was wrong. I told you that after finishing this you will see the complete rag rugs I've woven. I found out I can still weave one more rag rug. 

Pii is my loyal assistant. She lives behind the loom... and partly behind my desk, as you can notice from the pic above. It is her nest, her own place and she doesn't like the distribution but she doesn't mind me to step over her every now and then when I need to get behind the loom. 💕

When I finished another rag rug I realized I can do even one more. So after finished this one I have already chosen the materials for the next one. Which I will start -obviously- tomorrow. 

I actually didn't know nor realize how much rug fits around the cloth roller of my loom. I had my loom in 2016. I have used them. But I actually have never before had this much around the cloth roller. There is over 10 m of finished rag rugs around the roller. I have always taken my loom as small one but they are small only what comes to the size and width compared to traditional Finnish looms. 

RelaxingWhileWorking

I have been cutting more rags for rugs. When cutting or tearing the rags it loses microfibers. It might be quite dusty craft activity. That's why I like to do it over summer season outside. I mainly buy (have always bought) textiles and clothes made of natural fibers so it is natural microfibers that mainly come out. That's why I am not afraid of doing it outside and losing micro plastic into the nature.

I am on a summer leave and the weather has been excellent for washing rugs. I've already washed mine but have been taking my mom to wash hers. I could help her but washing the rugs is a good exercise for 70+ person and it is also a matter of pride. 

She used to cycle 10 km with her rugs and wash them and then cycle back with the wet rugs only to do it again on the next warm day. Now she accepts someone to take her by a car. I guess she is getting old, but not too old because I really don't dare to touch her rug washing project if not asked because otherwise it is an insult and old-shaming. 

(She has never had a driving licence and lived most of her life in a place where is not at all or no proper public transport. That is an achievement in the modern time arctic climate!)

On the pic above you can see me wearing my favorite summer pants. They are over 4 years old and I wear them quite a lot. I have even one tiny hole in the right knee. For the FashionNOW I am going to fix them when I get the right idea for that.

Washing rugs by the natural water is old tradition of which people are proud of. For better action for the planet something has changed in the tradition. The old traditional washing places are still in use but modernized. That means they have taken down the old piers and built the washing tables with several washing stations. Each station gets running water pumped up from the natural water (in this case from the river Kemijoki). Instead of leading it all back to the nature they have built drains and lead the water into municipal drain network. From there all the waste water faces cleaning process before ending back to the nature. 

Washing rugs is also a social activity where people gather to wash the rugs but to chat at the same time. It is a good place to meet local residents. So, meanwhile my mom has been doing proper physical activity for her health she has also taken care of her mental well being by seeing village people near and far. And I have enjoyed about the view while acting for the better future and FashionNOW and being creative. That makes good also to my own well being!

NewLife

For the 1st time in my life I visited Estonia and Tallinn in summer 2009. That was before I started this blog. In Tallinn I did only some shopping and one was to visit local Body Shop. From there I bought this fabric bag. Cotton fabric shopping bags are sustainable choice only if you use them A LOT. I have used this bag for 15 years and washed it several times. Now it found its way to store something I am up to...

In Forest Sámi culture the sustainable life style has always been one of the key points. In the modern times there was a period people were ashamed of it because of poor-shaming. Still it is something many Forest Sámi people hide from "outsiders". Because of poor-shaming. But here in my blog we all already know it is FashionNOW and there is nothing to be ashamed of. That's why I -again- show you what I have been collected. I have been collected old clothes. After the last use I have washed them and sorted out for the storage.

I have cut over 10 yrs old T-shirts and turtle neck polo shirts in pieces. You can do it yourself with the help of Rag -tutorial in my blog. In Forest Sámi (and many other) culture people recycled and upcycled everything possible. Old clothes were used as blankets and many other different ways. 

I have already woven one over 2 m long rag rug made of old linen. Dear Pii lives behind the loom and participates on weaving as the inspector general.

She thinks it is sleepy and boring and in her opinion I weave far too slow. I wonder how and earth she can sleep in that noise of banging. Anyway, we both are on a holiday and creativity actions and naps make so good on both of us mental health and recovery.

I have already started new rag rug where I use his old shirts. These rag rugs are going to be our veranda's new rugs for the coming winter. 

With the old pieces of clothes I use so called LP-yarn. It is made of 80% of recycled cotton and 20% of other fibers. It is made of yarns that form out loops. I use it to create warmth, softness and thickness for the rag rugs. It makes the rugs also to be a bit lighter and they don't get so heavy when getting wet when washing them by yourself.

OneMore

 

YougLady kindly asked me to weave one more rug for her student flat. She complained she often wets her socks when washing the dishes. That is not nice in Finland's WinterSeason. So, for the coming winter I made her one more rug. 

Cheerful Welcome

I've designed and woven a new welcome rug for our entrance. It is a bit summer style. On the other hand it matches with our colorful autumn, sparkles up our Polar Night Season and breathes the spirit of the spring until it will be the summer again!

The shades are totally different than I made almost 5 years ago. The green one is still doing great but I just wanted some new spirit for the entrance! I've just washed the green one and will use it in my garden.

It is a rag rug into which I've woven our linen and clothes of mine and kids! Let's save The Planet Earth!

I actually made it during the Weaving ABC online course where I teach people to learn to set up their own loom and work all the way to finished woven item. You can see Finnish introduction of the rug on my YouTube video I made for the students here.

HappyNewHome

I designed and made a rug for young couple's new home. It is a gift to wish them happy and prosperous new home.  

The black base is made of old VHS-tape. For the decorative stripes I used old white clothes, for example T-shirts and pyjamas.

DoorStepMat

I designed and made a tiny door step mat for YoungLady's new home. I used old VHS-tapes to weave it. The plastic VHS-tape makes it to sparkle.

 

RugsForYoungLady

This is TheRug YoungLady designed and made for herself.

This is the one I made for her. It is different but has the same idea. This goes for her kitchen so it has more plastic in it to ease to keep it clean and ease to wash it.

RagRug No3

At the moment I am weaving rugs by using recycled materials. The warp is brand new -of course- to secure the structure. I am using old VHS-tape (black) and old T-shirts and pajama-pants (white) to create something new. The rug will be a gift for a new young home. Because the rag rug contains quite a lot plastic (VHS-tape) this will be a perfect for kitchen or interior hall floor.