This was made for round 2 of the mug rug swap. I knew I wanted to ”yarn” something, since I’m not very confident with a sewing machine. After mulling over my partners themes I had the idea to make a fulled mug rug with applied icord edges that would somehow make keltic knots in the corners. That’s… not what happened.
I pulled out some yarn that had been waiting for the right project. It’s Rowan purelife British sheep breeds, colourway (and fibre) mid brown Jacob.
My original plan was to use a pretty multicoloured swedish wool yarn for the icord edge.
The yarn is british wool yarn that’s not dyed at all. Apparently this is what brown Jacob looks like. I could have used bigger needles to have an easier time fulling the mat, but this is what I had on hand.
I used one strand of cotton yarn for my long tail cast on to be able to pick up those stitches easily later. The middle is garter stitch to make sure it would sit flat, but I wanted the edges to roll and match the icord bind off I had planned for the short sides.
However, since the two yarns had different weights I started to worry that it’d go wonky if (when) they didn’t shrink the same way.
I ended up using the Rowan purelife for an icord bind off on both the end, and the picked up cast on edge.
After grafting the ends of the icords to blend with the edge stitches I tossed it in the washing machine. And since nothing much happened I did it again…
I sent this picture to my mom after two tries in the washing machine.
”Well, if you’re going for a seat pad…”
After four (I think) trips through the washing machine I was happy with the feel of the seat pad mug rug. I used a small metal slicker brush on it while still damp to give the top of the mug rug a soft texture.
Luckily I found some use for the nice swedish wool yarn too. I used one of the red sections for petals, and a yellow section for the middle part. Some of the petals has a hint of green in them, and I like that they aren’t the exact same colour.
The black pistils around the middle are made from naturally black/grey gotland sheep wool, or it could be gute sheep wool. I just know I bought the yarn in Gotland, and the lambs in question where from that island.
Pattern
Mug mat - winged it. Borders and icord inspired by the Värmland shawl.
Flowers - Poppies from the book 100 flowers to knit and crochet by Lesley Stanfield (the swedish edition)
Yarn
Rowan purelife British Sheep Breeds, Mid brown Jacob
Ullcentrum 100% swedish wool
100% gotland or gute wool from farm on Gotland
Needles
6 mm needles. 7 mm or even bigger would have made the fulling work better
3,5 or 4 mm for the flowers I think.