Guest Author - Iris ten Holder

Get creative with stripes and colors to make an original round rug that will provide a striking accent in your room.

Note that these rugs make wonderful round cushion covers or chair back covers as well.

Great stripes can be created by enclosing a row of a vibrant color within two rows of a darker color, with a complementary color as the background.

Let's take a green rug with red as the accent color. Colors to use are: dark green, medium green, brown, white and red. Obtain colors that harmonize well. To make some variation in the background color, alternate the sections between solid color and mixed colors. The green can be mixed with brown and with white, thereby producing dark green and light green. The red can also be mixed this way and used as a background in some of the sections. For the stripes use unmixed solid colors, in this case brown or dark green for definition and red for accent.

To get a good idea of what is involved here, draw a circle, divided into 10 pie-shaped segments. Divide each of these segments again in three or four sections by drawing lines parallel to the side of each triangle, as this how it will happen in the knitting process when the rows are diminished in the center. Then put in the red stripes flanked by brown lines. Finally color in the background, either all in green or alternating with mixed red colors.

Dividing the sections in three or four parts works well. The heavier the stripe, the bolder the look. Use two brown or dark green rows on each side of the colored center of the stripe.

In these striped rugs the shorter stripes hook into the long section at the beginning of the following segment. Therefore, these need to correspond in color and composition. When all stripes are the same, this does not pose a problem. It is something to watch for when using two or three different stripe combinations,

There is a great opportunity for variations to suit your particular style or preference. Keep it simple until you feel confident enough to explore the more complex designs.