I recently wanted a new bathmat, and realised I had quite a few old towels that were still thick ‘n thirsty, but had been dyed weird colours by my elderly and slightly dotty mother, who thinks sorting washing into colours, whites, darks etc is new-fangled nonsense. (But that’s another story.)

I bought some cotton/acrylic mix yarn in the colours from my bathroom, and knit a large rectagle-almost-square, with a crocheted border. I then used one of the old bath towels, doubled, as a backing.

The result is a unique, rather gorgeous bathmat that is warm and extra large, (because we have 2 kids who think a bathmat is something you stand next to when you are dripping wet; they can hardly avoid this one!).

I also feel virtuous because I re-used something that would otherwise have been thrown out.

Now I am looking for uses for other oddly-coloured garment -victims of my mother’s poor washday habits.

I like the idea of rag rugs. When making the strips, should they be hemmed? Wouldn’t this make them very thick to knit/crochet?

I have also been thinking of making an apron, perhaps with a mix pf plastic bags and other strips – this way it would be waterproof. I am messy in the kitchen, and my clothes get wet through normal aprons.

If I do get around to it, I’ll let you know.

Keep recylcing………….

Sorry for the confusion and for catching my goof. What I was trying to do is make the bag a bit narrower at rnd 4 so it has a flat bottom. So that’s why you only want to do one increase (2 Hdc in the ONE end st.) Thanks for the heads up and hope that your bag turns out nice for you.