A pet mat for Josef Alber’s dog

Leslie Stahlhut

As today’s scheduled activities included dog sitting my mom’s dog, Toby, I needed a project that was both portable and would advance my efforts to bring order to my crochet empire/guest room. With that goal in mind, I got the idea to make a pet mat for Josef Alber’s dog.

In anticipation of an upcoming meeting of Off the Hook Crochet Guild (one of our charity projects is to make crochet pet mats in memory of Jean Leinhauser), I gathered together two partial skeins of Lion Brand Yarn Hometown USA (a bulky weight acrylic yarn) that were part of a large jumble of partially used skeins of yarn, along with a full skein of the same yarn that I got at the Chain Link conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, last September.

Inspired by Josef Albers’ book, Interaction of Color, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do, but no clear idea of how to get it done.

So once I got to my mom’s and was situated, I got out my 8.0mm hook, the yarn, and set out to bring my vision to fruition. After 45 minutes of crocheting and frogging and crocheting and frogging, I finally hit on what I hoped would be a method that would bridge the gap between my idea and reality.

Another 30 minutes later, and I had completed the first of what will be four squares:

crochetbug, crochet squares, crocheted, crocheting, crochet pet mat, crochet blocks, josef albers
After much frogging, I complete the first of four squares for my latest pet mat

After another 30 minutes, I had a good start on what turned out to be the second of four squares:

crochetbug, crochet squares, crocheted, crocheting, crochet pet mat, crochet blocks, josef albers
The second of four crochet squares for a pet mat to-be

By this time, there has been an unexpected change to the schedule, and the dogs, and I set out on what would be our grandest adventure of the day.

Once our adventure was behind us, it was time for me to run another scheduled errand, so it wasn’t until late afternoon that I was able to get back to this project, but I did, and I managed to complete the third of four squares:

crochetbug, crochet squares, crocheted, crocheting, crochet pet mat, crochet blocks, josef albers
The third of four crochet squares for a pet mat to-be

Here are the squares in one group photo:

crochetbug, crochet squares, crocheted, crocheting, crochet pet mat, crochet blocks, josef albers
A view of the front of three crochet squares

and here they are in another:

crochetbug, crochet squares, crocheted, crocheting, crochet pet mat, crochet blocks, josef albers
A view of the back of three crochet squares

My hope is that when all the seams are joined, ends woven in, and a border crocheted, the pet mat I started work on today will bring a rescue animal both comfort and joy (in the form of a forever home) this holiday season.

And while I don’t know if Josef Alber’s had a dog, I think that this pet mat-to-be would make such a dog feel right at home.

2 thoughts on “A pet mat for Josef Alber’s dog”

  2. looks great, hope i come back as a puppy. ( i own a deer head chi.) she is MUCH loved.. Cannot imagine my days without her…

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