Finnish artist Johanna Hyrkäs combined ‘rope lights’ with carpet and the results were brilliant. So brilliant, that she shared her idea with the world!
The “Light Carpet” was born and it was built by simply taking a ‘rope lights’ and crocheting around the outside of them. Use clear lights to create a nice warm ambient feel to any room, or use colored lights to really funky up a room!
How hard is it to make? Well Carmen from the Crafty Queens blog decided to take the Finnish artist’s Light Carpet idea and create one herself. First she obtained the necessary items – a cord of LED lights (make sure they are LED as they won’t heat up, are safe and energy efficient) and a few skeins of textile yarn. Now starts the crocheting!
The result of Carmen’s project is super cool as you will see below. There is no doubt you will want to try your hand at it once you see her results.
Crafty Queen talks about the initial difficulty of crocheting:
“I’m not a total crochet noob, but I had some difficulty figuring this out. Soon enough though, I got it right! I’m sharing this tutorial with all of you, to spare you some trial-and-error of your own.
She continues on the process:
“I understood that I would have to crochet in the round a few times, until it would fit the inside of the lights.. um.. cord? Anyway, because the cord is very stiff, it would not curl up small enough to work it into the crocheting from the beginning. I crocheted 8 SC in a magic circle, and then 2 SC in every SC, before I could start working with the cord.
The lights cord I used was 6 meters long.”
On crocheting technique:
“It’s kind of tricky, but you’ll get the hang of it. For the first few rounds, keep crocheting with *1sc, 2sc*. Crochet very loosely! After the 3rd round, I noticed that if you just crochet loose enough, you don’t have to increase that much. When you do need to, just chain 1 in between stitches. ( I did this every 6 stitches) I found that doing 2SC covers the lights too much. It would still shine through, but I thought it was nicer to leave larger gaps. If you need to increase in the last round, however, use 2SC instead of chains, as it makes for a nicer edge.
When you’ve come to the end of the cord, crochet some SC without the cord in it, like in this picture.”
“Then, crochet 2 slip stitches (1 per stitch), to make a nice circle.”
“Weave in the ends. You’ll need an extra large needle for this. If you don’t have one, maybe a crochet hook will do the trick too.”
Now turn on the lights and marvel in your creations beauty!
This is one cool Light-Up Rug that totally transforms a space from boring to interesting.
And yes, dogs like the Light-Up Rug too!
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