Weaving Rag Rugs

When the author of an instructional book on weaving has taught weaving for 30 years, readers can trust they're in good hands. That's surely the case with this, the first book by the author, full of surprisingly diverse and consistently attractive designs for rag rug weaving. The craft isn't a simple one, and this book doesn't shy away from making it clear that a full-sized loom is needed. Copious photographs show how to prepare the loom, a painstaking process, as well as how to choose and prepare the warp and weft. The fun begins in the second half of the book, when Knisley shows how simple fabric choices can lead to stunning rugs, such as a Rainbow-Striped Rug, the autumnally toned Spice Market rug, and a set of three rugs made from t-shirts in pleasing pastel gradations. This book is surely for a very specific market of determined crafters, and it does a wonderful job of teaching them. Weaving diagrams and full-color photos. (Apr.)