My Zen Cat and Super-Rug

I have a cat whose name is Iggy. He likes to stare at the wall. I can relate to this; whenever I need to step away from the distractions of my life, I will stare at something. This can prove to be a little awkward when I’m out in public.?áIn that case it?áis good to find somewhere to sit, then close my eyes for a minute. Iggy doesn’t have this problem, because he is an “inside-cat”.

You might wonder why I’m writing about this right now. My rationale is that I am in a Post-Yoga-Class state. This morning I had my first yoga class of 2011, after a month’s break. My mind is clear, my breath is easy and focussed, my spine and arms and legs and fingers and feet and… everything that makes up “me”… feels good.?áI?áhad intended to write about the braided rug that I?áam slowly working on (it’s quite a long process, being the sole crafty or creative thing in my life that I would define as a “hobby”), and as my eyes were looking up from this computer screen towards that rug, I saw Iggy. Staring at the wall. This reminded me of the state of my mind during yoga class this morning and that’s that.

So, this rug is composed of pieces of unused, discarded t-shirt material that I rescued from the landfill during my?áemployment?áin?á”the fashion?áindustry”. I worked as a sample-cutter in the sewing room of a large corporation for about a year and a half. Each garment that was designed for?áthis company?árequired several pre-production samples in order to pass muster, before being manufactured in China.?áHence there was a lot of waste, and this sewing-room went through a lot of fabric.

At one point I decided to tuck away scrap pieces of?áfabrics to take home, rather than throw into the trash. The company had a?álip-service “Green” policy, in that they put up dozens of posters encouraging staff to use only one paper-towel when drying their hands in the washroom. I reasoned with myself that if I should get in trouble for taking trash away from the company, that I could plead “Logic” and win. I could point out the blatant irony of all those posters, asking that people save little pieces of paper, while in the meantime we?átossed out?áwhat amounted to sheets of fabric every day.?áAs it turned out, I didn’t need to plead anything because shortly thereafter I quit.

It didn’t take long for me to amass a big sack of?áscrap t-shirt material at home,?áand I began?ábraiding pieces together. I would just cut about an inch-wide strip, tie similar-toned pieces together, and then braid. I made several meters of braided t-shirt material. This was the easy, fun, simple, relaxing part of the craft. The more difficult task was in sewing it all together. I basically just began to wind the braid around itself on a table, stitching as I went, on one (the ugly) side. I would tuck the tied ends to the ugly side, to make sure it looked good on the top side. Of course when I began, it grew very quickly so I felt motivated and satisfied. As the circumference of the circle expanded, though, it was slower work. This is why the project remains unfinished.?áAt the moment it exists as a sort of “decoration” in my home?árather than an actual rug.

I do like the idea of making something out of nothing, though, and I consider this rug to be a potential Family Heirloom. In a?áwhile perhaps I’ll?áshare with you?áa photograph or two of myself doing yoga on this rug, or of my cat sitting on it and staring at the wall…

Natasha Henderson, Montreal