You say potato, I say french fries!...salty!... oceans!...pirates!

(or "Welcome to my brain; please watch out for low flying ideas and random connections")

In the last 48 hours I have mostly been thinking about rugs.

Let me explain. Most of you will know that I recently bought a new house, and when I was up there at the weekend MR A idly observed that it would be nice to have a couple of rugs for the kitchen floor. And maybe they should be rag rugs, as that would seem to go very nicely with the style of the house.

OK, I thought to myself, sounds like a plan. Also sounds like something I should be able to find on the internet in a range of retro-chic styles.

Gentle reader, never put the search term "rag rugs" into Google unless you have braced yourself thoroughly first. There are 2 sorts of rag rug artist out there. One makes *very* expensive "designer" rugs in styles that are far too modern for where I want to put them. (And did I say expensive? ) The other makes good value basic mats, but they are so twee that I found it hard to look at them without flinching. One site even started up playing "'Tis A Gift To Be Simple" at full volume when I clicked on it. Not something you need at 2am when Dear Husband is asleep within earshot, let me tell you.

So, next plan. Why don't I make them? Further research revealed that there are a huge number of ways to make rag rugs, although one of the most popular appears to be crocheting them with a hook the size of a tent peg. Or you can knit them....

Next plan - I know I've seen a great pattern for a rug made out of mitred squares somewhere. A bit more Googling later and I find it. It's from Interweave knits, and is made out of Lion Brand kitchen cotton. Nice, don't you think?


Interweave rug

More Googling reveals that I cannot source Lion Brand kitchen cotton in the UK or via the Internet with any degree of reliability (presumably because it is super-common in the US so who the heck would want to sell it on-line). Can I find a substitute? Not that easily as it is very thick compared to most of the cotton yarns available here in the UK.....

Next plan - can I adapt that cool mitred afghan pattern that I admired on Mason Dixon not so long ago?


Psychedelic throw

More Googling, and I decide this is possible, although I would like to make it out of reasonably cheap cotton yarn rather than super-special Rowan cotton because it's going to be walked on. Some internet possibilities present themselves, but I am going to John Lewis's tomorrow anyway to exchange some of the pillow cases I bought the other week, so I'll check out what they've got there.

I get to JL's. They have no suitable cotton (except for some really horrid colours). But they do have some really yummy big wool yarns.....

Next plan - I go crazy and buy Rowan yarn, hatching a plot to knit big garter stitch squares, sew then together and attach a felted i-cord border in the darkest colour. I also wantonly buy all blue and grey yarns despite the fact that the tiles in my kitchen are green and dark red. It'll be eclectic, I tell myself.

Here is my loot.


Kitchen rug ... honest

The first yarn is Rowan Ribbon Twist, which I had never really closely examined before. I love the crinkles and the zingy bits of colour and shininess provided by the ribbon. I want to start knitting these immediately to see how they turn out.


Ribbon twist

The second yarn is Rowan Big Wool, which is soft and delicious. Again, I want to start knitting straight away.


Big wool

And while I was there, this Debbie Bliss Maya may have slipped into my basket. This picture hasn't really done the colourways justice - the purples are much softer and pinker than you see them here. What am I going to do with this? Well, maybe Clapotis, but I need to think about gague and whether this is slippery enough. Other than that, who the heck knows? I'm sure something will come to me.


DB Maya in purple

So, from rag rugs to knitted rugs, to mitred squares, to cotton, to wool, to patchwork to i-cords in just under 2 days. My head hurts. I think I need to go and lie down now :)