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The Rug Rats didn't pick up the art of crocheting rugs from their moms and grandmas but, like their elders, they are learning to recycle used items.

In this case, as their name implies, the Rug Rats make rugs.

Most of the Rug Rats are members of Mill Creek Baptist Church, and they all like crafts and socializing.

All of them live in Botetourt County and they scour bargain shops and clean out their own linen closets, searching for cheap, clean, used bed sheets to recycle into rugs.

"The Goodwill store is our favorite store," Sandy Hodges chimed in during a discussion of materials.

"We are bringing back the art of using anything discarded," Rachel Mariano said.

"My mom always made things out of nothing," explained Mariano, the Rug Rats' instructor, whose home would be layered with two-inch wide strips of material as the Rug Rats cut old sheets and rolled the strips into balls.

The Rug Rats -- with a base membership of seven -- have been holding weekly rug-making gatherings nearly two years and now move from home-to-home or even to the front porch of a Troutville convenience store, lugging bags and baskets of sheet strips, hooks and rugs.

"There's no initiation fee, and dues are minimal," joked Judy Deel.

"There's not a lot of planning and we have no agenda. You don't have to come, but you just want to," Deel said of the Rug Rats' weekly gatherings.

There's nothing special about the gatherings, said Cheryl Ratliff, the hostess on a recent Wednesday.

"It gives us the opportunity to talk about a bunch of nothing," Ratliff added. "We nurture each other and it's kind of therapeutic."

Although most of the rugs are given away as gifts to family and friends, a few have been sold to benefit missions programs at Mill Creek.

"These are nice as gifts because no one else has them," said Lisa Wright, who learned of the rug group when she visited Mill Creek. Some remember ancestors making similar throw rugs and chair cushions out of old clothing.

"My mom used to make them [rugs] out of old wool jackets," Mariano said.

It was Mariano's sister who picked up the trade from their mother and passed it on to Mariano's daughter.

Mariano said she later figured if her daughter could learn to crochet rugs, then she could.

After moving to Botetourt County about three years ago, Mariano began teaching her new friends how to make the rugs.

"People have been doing this since the settlers came to Jamestown," remarked Julia Simpson, who considers herself a guest of the Rug Rats even though she has entertained them in her Daleville home.

Approaching 94, Simpson is the oldest, and according to Ratliff, the "original Rug Rat."

Sitting in the living room of Ratliff's Buchanan-area home that was built in the early 1800s, Simpson hemmed a baby quilt while the other crocheters sipped lemonade or iced tea as they looped rugs.

Some members joked that Simpson was making the rugs out of discarded clothing and household items before they were born.

While hooking rugs, the crocheters laughed and talked, some teasingly calling themselves "Happy Hookers," the name they initially planned to call their group. Others still shy away from that nickname.

Conversations shifted from the decor and furnishings of Ratliff's home to Mariano's upcoming trip home to Maine and Wright's recent trip to North Dakota.

Not only do the Rug Rats compliment each other frequently, they also seek advice on matching colors, straightening loops and other needlework issues.

Keyndal Sink, 9, received the most attention. The Wednesday gathering was her first.

Keyndal learned to crochet earlier this summer at the knee of Hodges, her grandmother, and is making her first rug.

Discussions, however, never strayed far from sheets and rugs, many of which were displayed on the sofa.

"They wash up and last forever," Ratliff said.

"Sheets you don't like make good rugs," said Rebecca Boone. "You'll never look at your sheets the same way."

Depending on the size of the sheets, "you can make them [rugs] any size you want," said Nancy Lanier, adding that members of the group usually use king- and queen-sized sheets.

She's also making rugs out of material she originally brought to make draperies. Material made of polyester also makes good rugs, she said.

"I have found better sheets at the Goodwill than I have on my bed," said Mariano, remarking that she had swapped her bed sheets for some she had planned to use for rugs.

Much like the personalities of the Rug Rats, the sheet rugs come in all colors. Most are vibrant and match any decor; others are subtle.

"The uglier the sheet, the prettier the rug; we've learned that," Deel said, viewing rugs of bright oranges and reds and various shades of blue, green, purple and yellow.