Crocheting a rag rug - possibly from old sheets

[5Foot5]

I am interested in crocheting a rag rug for my summer house. I am thinking rectangular and at least 4 feet by 6 feet.

I have seen a few internet links where people have made rugs with old sheets but they all seem to be American and I just wondered whether any UK crocheters would know:

a) Is an American single crochet the same as a UK double crochet and American double our treble?

b) The patterns I have seen seem to use an enormous hook which is an S and as far as I can tell that is 19mm. I never knew they came that big! Can you get such sizes here in the UK? Has anyone done anything like this and can tell me if I really need one that big?

c) Any idea how many old sheets I would need to destroy for a project this size?

d) Any idea how long it would take?

Any other suggestions, comments and shared experiences gratefully received.

Oh I do have a lot of old towels too. Would they be possible as an alternative or as well as sheets?

I did a workshop on giant crocheting a couple of months ago and it was great - everything works up so quickly. Alison did explain how to make yarn out of fabric, it seems pretty straightforward. I bought a 24mm hook from her and I'm going to make a dog basket (I also saw a nice pattern for this in an Erika Knight book). I had a quick google and I think you can get a 19mm hook online fairly easily - or I'm sure Alison would sell you a 24mm one (her husband makes them). It cost £8.

I'd also like to have a go at a rug. I think I'm just going to make it up as I go along with different fabrics and yarns - I'll probably put together a group of colours to start off with and see what happens. Mainly because I have no idea how much fabric/yarn I'll need.

a) Yes, that's right

b) 20mm hook

c) No idea but go to a charity shop/house clearance warehouse. My local one has loads of sheets and they're very very cheap.

d) Forever :o I found using even a super chunky yarn with a 15mm hook very tiring on my hook-arm so I imagine you can only do a little at a time. Having said that, the chunkiness of the "yarn" with the huge hook makes it speedier to make up so that may balance it out.

Thank you - that is encouraging.

My local supplier only has hooks up to 8mm and I already have all the "normal" sizes. However, that 20mm hook sounds just the thing and not too expensive either so I will be sending off for that.

My airing cupboard is in a state of chaos at the moment as there is load os old bedding in there I am sure we no longer use so I will start by turning that out.

I think I will try a little bit first to see how it goes before I cut up too much!!

this makes one length of yarn from a flat piece of fabric.

THis uses T Shirts but joins the strips together using a hole in each strip - might work for the sheets too.

Great tips SoupDragon and I have now ordered one of those big hooks so - Game On!

I would have thought sheets would not be resilient enough, also, unless you dye them, not very interesting when finished. old t shirts a better bet. I would approach a charity shop and ask them to put aside a bag of brightly colored t shirts or garments made of synthetic fabric that you could use. quite a lot of stuff that goes to charity shops isn't sellable and goes straight for sale to a fabric recycler, so you would have to pay for it, but not much (I was charged £1 last time I did it, for a black bin bag full)