Inspiration
Kiki Mariko Rug: She’s Back
Cristina Shiffman does this to us all the time. She takes something we love, flips it and reverses, sprinkles special magic, and makes us love it even more.
A case in point: the Kiki Mariko Rug.
I’ll be so bold as to say that of the hundreds of Kiki Mariko Rugs out there, every single one of them was a good time for the knitter. No exceptions. It’s just a joyride of a knit. Big needles, simple colorwork that knits up quickly into a giant tube.
And then, more fun awaits. You felt the whole thing in the washing machine, cut the steek, and VOILA: instant rug. A dash of modern style to warm up any room in the house.
When Cristina got ahold of the Kiki Mariko Rug, she made it even better. She pared down the number of colors to one golden yellow plus two shades of gray, and this is the amazing result:
Cristina’s grellow version is just the thing to bring sunshine to a cloudy day.
She let us borrow her rug to photograph, and gosh, we hope it gets back to her safely, but what with all the seasonal snafus and delivery delays and whatnot, maybe we should hold onto it in Nashville a little longer?
Technical Details
To make things easy, we’ve updated the Kiki Mariko Rug pattern with a chart for Cristina’s 3-color grellow version. A downloadable PDF of the pattern is included with the yarn kit.
Let’s Get Realistic
You absolutely could make one of these in time to glow up for the December holidays. It’s a romp of a knit. It’s also a great gift for a newer knitter who’s ready to baby-step their way into easy stranded colorwork and the most stress-free steek that has ever been steeked.
Wow! Christina, your color variation is Amazing!
Thanks Diane! I jumped on that Pantone Grellow Color of 2021 bandwagon!
Love the new color kit! Loved making this rug!
I have made three, so far. I made the original for the kit-a-long. My husband liked it so much he order two more as Christmas gifts for out grandniece and grandnephew. When I took them to the laundromat for top loader felting, a fellow visitor was knitting socks. She fell in love with the Kiki Marikos. As did one of the other visitors. The Kiki Mariko turned a laundromat visit into a social event. It has that effect.
P.S. Make sure there are top loaders at the laundromat. This one ended up not having any. I dryer felted at home instead. [Easy Felt Like a Pirate instructions online.] Still, not a wasted visit.
P.P.S. There is still time to do one as a holiday gift. It took me just over a week at about two hours a day. And I am not a speedy knitter.
P.P.P.S. In-person delivery would be recommended. These rugs are not lightweight and shipping could be expensive.
Have been wanting to knit this rug for years. An index card is sticking out of my MDK- Outside the Lines book, that I bought new, and it opens to the Kiko Mariko Rug pattern. Guess it was meant to be, as I ordered the kit on Saturday. I never order kits, as I am a freethinking patterner, adjusting, changing colors, customizing. I ordered the original color scheme, still warm in my mind. The rug looks like it will brighten any place where it lives.
Hello,
What is the approximate size of the finished (felted) rug?
Thank you.
It’s approximately 26″ x 40″ after felting. Precise dimensions will depend on felting, of course.
Thank you!
I picked up the standard Kiki kit last year & it’s been in my queue since then because I have a very long queue! My kit is going to have to jump the queue & I’m going to have to strongly consider this yellow combo because I love the way it looks so much!
Any chance you could offer just the grellow chart as a standalone purchase for those of us that already have the pattern but would like to try other colorways?
Any chance that you could offer the grellow chart as a standalone purchase for those of us who already have the kit/pattern & would like to try another colorway?
I bought the Grellow kit and I’m just about to get started. I’m confused about the steek stitches. The instructions say “each edge stitch should be the same color as the pattern stitch that follows or precedes it.” I don’t understand. I downloaded a “steek pattern” graphic from the original color way and that’s not helping either. Can someone help? Maybe a photo of your steek section?