Crocheted Rag Rugs; The Lazy Frugal Woman's Braided Rug!

I have claimed, over there on the right, to make braided rugs from thrifted sheets. Wanna see evidence?
I started learning a little about crocheting last year. And I got the idea, being a frugal, lazy homemaker who loves beautiful, handmade things, that crocheting might be a faster way to make a braided rag rug! I was not wrong. I was not the first one to think of this, either. There are dozens of tutorials on youtube. I liked this youtube tutorial best. You rip up some cool sheets from your fave thrift store, get a big huge crochet hook, and take it away! It is much quicker than braiding, because the chain is created and attached to the previous row all at once with crochet. To braid, you have to make three long strips, braid them, and then sew the braid in a huge coil! And, as far as crochet goes, this working in the round this way is super easy and forgiving, because you don't have to count or line up rows. I have found that, with my state in life, I have to leave perfectionism behind. If I can get a decent result that makes me happy and blesses my family, I will use the simplest, quickest method I can, even if it would not pass the inspection of more scrupulous homemakers.
Here's the first crochet rug I made:

I learned a few things about the width of sheet strips I prefer and the type of rag texture that works best. This one has sheets, as well as a cool woven tablecloth. I should have made the tablecloth strips more narrow, since the weave was significantly thicker than a sheet. Also, cheap, cotton-poly blend material is not so good to use. There is a princess sheet in here made of such a blend, and the texture is really not as nice as the pure cotton.

Still, thick and soft and cute in my little girls' room.

I started another. Because, I am wierd about buying beautiful material at Goodwill. I had quite a few sheets to put to good use! This one I planned to use in a public area of the house. I put my new knowledge to use, making big torn sheet yarn balls of the right thickness.

Here's the rug in progress:

My foot may not be so helpful for scale; I wear size 11.

 I learned more things. Like the fact that tearing vintage sheets creates dusty little cotton fibers! And apparently I get a bit allergic to cotton shreds. So I delayed a bit. But then a brilliant child of mine (jokingly) suggested I wear a respirator to finish the rug. Great idea!! I grabbed my mask from my tool bag and finished off the ball of rags I had. It helps a lot to keep it on a flat surface, though it gets more unwieldy as it grows.

There is nothing odd here.

Here it is! About 16 in diameter. I can add to it. I probably will, because it needs some red/orange/pink tones, and it wouldn't hurt to have it a bit bigger.

But it looks nice in the entry area, I think.

And here's a sweet mommy-baby selfie. Because this post needs some baby adorableness.