I was excited by the challenge to use nothing but a pair of my favorite orange handled scissors for this project. I knew immediately that I wanted to use them to cut lengths of t-shirt weight jersey knit to make my own balls of yarn as I have been wanting to start on a large scale crochet project for a while. Having been inspired by some lovely area rugs online and in stores, but knowing that purchasing enough yarn to complete such a project would be cost prohibitive, I decided to make my own!

I bought several yards of jersey knit from the fabric store. Jersey knit can be bought at a very reasonable price if you shop around. I think the tan knit I bought was $3 a yard and the bright yellow was $2 a yard, making my project cost about $30 total. However, as with many crafts what you save in money you spend in time!

To cut the fabric into yarn, it is necessary to have a pair of long, sharp scissors. You are going to be doing A LOT of cutting and it makes sense to have the scissors do the work – not you! I used my favorite 9” Dressmaker shears, with its long blades that cut easily through 2 layers of fabric with very little strain to my hands.

I began by folding my fabric in half over my cutting table and starting at the raw edges, cut across the fabric towards the folded edge about 1” in from the bottom.

Stopping ½ ” short of the folded edge, I turned my shears back towards the direction they had come from and cut 1” above the previous cutting line.

As I reached the raw edges opposite the folded edge, I again stopped ½ ” short of cutting through to the end, removed the shears and brought them back around to the outside of the raw edges and cut again.

I worked back and forth in this manner for about 1 yard’s length of fabric, at which point I cut the line completely at the folded edge, to remove the fabric from the remaining yardage.

Next I had to cut into the fabric to create one long strip which I did by finding the folded edges I had left, and snipping them apart through the fold.

To make the jersey more ‘yarn-like’, I pulled it tightly through the handles of my scissors (for friction) to make the edges curl. This turns the fabric from strips into something resembling twine or string.

I then rolled the yarn into a ball and repeated the process for the remaining yardage.

As I said, I decided to crochet my yarn into a rug. Here are the directions I made up if you want to make something similar:

• Crochet hook N (9.00mm)
• Ch 5. Sl st into 5th Ch from hook to form ring.
• Ch 2. 11 dc in ring. Join to ch 2 with sl st. (12 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same stitch. 2 dc in each stitch around. Join to ch 2 with sl st. (24 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next st* all the way around. (36 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next 2 st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 st*all the way around (48 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next 3 st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next 3 st* all the way around (60 st)

Continue to increase according to pattern until you get to the desired size. I changed colors whenever I felt the need. Because the stitches are large and the yarn forgiving, I simply cast on the new color yarn by tying it on to the previous strand, hiding the knots on the underside of the rug.

Though I made a rug with my yarn, the possibilities are endless. Think pet blanket, picnic rug, chair or cushion covers, grocery totes….What will you make with yours?