Once upon a time, there was a store-bought floor mat.
There was nothing particularly impressive about this floor mat. It's colors were dull, it's style was lacking, and it's overall construction was basic. Nevertheless, it did it's duty and acted as the first defense against dirt in the home and therefore, was in no need of reassignment.
One day, the floor mat met with a substance that required more than a shaking out and a good vacuuming. That substance was.... poop. Who could have done such a thing?? Who would befoul an innocent, albeit unimpressive, door mat?
....
The lady of the house had cleaned such a substance before. After all, with 2 small boys, a dog, 2 chickens, and a kitten, it was a part of her daily routine. Needless to say, she did not faint or shudder at her obligation to cleanse this floor mat. So once a surface cleanse of the offensive substance was completed the lady consulted the final authority to see how she might carry on sterilizing this particular floor mat. She lifted the tag and read the ominous words:
"Not Machine Washable. Dyes May Run"
Oh dear.
This $8 floor mat had the misfortune of being, of all things, High Maintenance. The lady could not in good conscious trust that the offensive substance was thoroughly sterilized. She could not wash the rug in her machine for fear of dye running amok. It saddened her that her trusty, cheap floor mat came with such a serious and unexpected flaw. Especially for a floor mat.
But the lady, being an avid crocheter, knew just what to do. She hastened to her local yarn shop and retrieved beautiful, cotton, washable yarn from the shelves and set to work with her own two hands making a replacement floor mat.
Something useful.
Something sturdy.
Something beautiful.
Something trendy.
Something machine washable.
The lady was so smitten with this Chevron style floor mat and the beautiful colors, she began to take notice of other places her floors needed covering. The area by the front door could perhaps benefit from some grey and magenta. The hallway's absence of a runner in white, grey and black was suddenly a crisis. The lady tried to put these other projects from her head, but it was such a challenge when so much beauty and inspiration was before her.
The lady, full of joy and pride in her creation-in-the-making, took a moment to photograph it and write up some information about the floor mat to be. She posted the pictures to her online crochet journal so that friends and family might see the new floor mat's progress and be delighted and inspired to create something useful & beautiful for their home as well.
The end.
