Paperback Mug Rugs

Mug Rugs done on Paperback looms

I enjoyed doing these mug rugs & did most of the work on them while my older 3 children were taking their swimming lessons... 50 minutes a day over a 6 week period doesn't seem like a lot, but when you don't have a 1 year old underfoot (he stayed home with daddy), you can get a LOT done! Once in a while I would talk with other parents/relatives at the pool, but most of the time was spent weaving...

All the tapestry pieces were done on the 6-dent Paperback loom. The log cabin and plain weave variations were done on the 8-dent Paperback loom. Because I wanted to try to make these pieces come out thick, I didn't use the 10 or 12 dent, as those would require finer yarn.

All the pieces were needlewoven by pulling the colors through the warp with a crochet hook and then beaten into place with a tapestry fork. Some people might prefer a needle, but I found a crochet hook to be more versatile, ESPECIALLY when dealing with several different weft colors!

The top & bottom of all pieces were given one or two pairs of twining rows to secure the warp & weft. If there is enough interest, I will explain this process.

These are all the mug rugs that I sent to the Small Loom exchange in 2002:

the above show
two pieces done with the tapestry technique

The pink and maroon tapestry piece was a simple tapestry woven with Lamb's Pride bulky yarn in pink & maroon, and was warped with a grey worsted weight Lamb's Pride yarn:

3 or 4 rows of pink
alternate weaving 1 row of pink & 1 row of maroon 4 times to get the vertical bars
3 rows of maroon
2 rows pink 1 row of maroon 2 rows of pink 2 rows of maroon
alternate 1 row of pink & 1 row of maroon 4 times to get the vertical bars and this was separated by a row of pink
alternate 1 row of pink & 1 row of maroon 4 times
2 rows of pink 1 row of maroon 2 rows of pink
3 rows of maroon
alternate 1 row of pink 1 row of maroon 3 times to get vertical bars
7 or 8 rows of pink

I potholdered the ends of this piece.

The maroon, apple green and dark green piece was a simple tapestry woven with Lamb's Pride bulky yarn in pink and maroon and dark green, and was warped with a grey worsted weight Lamb's Pride yarn (which you can't see in the weaving, but you can see the loops at the ends):

6 or 7 rows of dark green
alternate 1 row of apple green with 1 row of dark green 5 times
4 or 5 rows of apple green
alternate 1 row of maroon 1 row of apple green 2 times
2 rows maroon
alternate 1 row of maroon 1 row of apple green 2 times
2 rows of maroon
alternate 1 row of maroon 1 row of apple green 2 times
4 or 5 rows apple green
alternate 1 row apple green 1 row dark green 3 or 4 times
2 rows apple green
alternate 1 row apple green 1 row dark green 4 times
8 or 9 rows of dark green

Log Cabin

The above piece was done with Christopher Sheep yarn in natural sheep grey & black colors in worsted weight...the warp order was:

1 black 1 grey x4, 1 grey 1 black x4 across the loom
the weaving order matched the warp order

This piece was done with Lamb's Pride bulky yarn in pink and maroon (sorry, I lost the yarn label, so I don't have the exact color names) and was warped as follows:

1 strand pink 1 strand maroon x4, 1 strand maroon 1 strand pink x4 across the loom

and then was woven: 1 row pink 1 row maroon x5, 1 row maroon 1 row pink x3 all the way to the end

Plain Weave

The grey and brown piece was done with Christopher Sheep yarn in natural sheep brown & natural sheep grey in worsted weight.

This piece was done as follows:

2 grey 2 brown across the warp & the weaving was done by doing 2 rows of brown & 2 rows of grey.
I thought that this would look like checkerboard, but it looks more jagged to me!

The pink and yellow plain weave variation was done with Lamb's Pride bulky yarn in pink and green apple

and was done as follows:

3 yellow 1 pink across the warp & woven with a similar pattern as the warp.

The olive green and yellow piece was done with Lamb's Pride bulky yarn in green apple & a darker green

For finishing, you can fringe your piece, or use a crochet edge as if casting off a potholder, or sew in your ends... there are many ways!

and was warped:

1 dark green 2 yellow & woven in the same order as the warp