My youngest son’s pursuit of a dog is an enterprise that consumes him most days of the week, and today was no exception.

He has read books on how to train dogs and has his own opinions as to which methods work best with which breeds and sizes of dogs, he has done research on the traits of various breeds to better identified a dog that would suitable for our lifestyle and household situation (we have a cat), and he pours over various animal rescue sites carefully reading the descriptions of the dogs that interest him in an effort to determine which would be a good fit for our family.

In addition to my son’s pursuit of a dog, I have also been inspired by Kim Werker’s efforts to help animals in need through crafting, and one of my readers pointed me to Snuggles Project to help me find a shelter that would accept pet mats.

With the welfare of animals at the forefront of my thinking, after the holiday had begun to wind down, I turned my attention to designing a pet mat that would be graphically interesting and pet friendly.

After looking over the free crochet patterns available at the Snuggles website, I was tempted to start on the Single-Double snuggle, but before I could settle on a color of yarn for the project, I felt the siren call of the African Flower hexagon.

This African Flower hexagon is my current favorite motif, and it frequently works its way into my projects. Today was no exception.

Using Heidi Bears tutorial for the African flower hexagon, an 8.0 mm hook, and two strands of various Red Heart Super Saver yarn, I got started making another pet mat so that I would have more than one pet mat to donate.

This is how far I got:

The hexagon currently measures 16″x16″. My plan at this point is to square off the hexagon and then continue working around the edges until it measures at least 19″x 19″.

Hopefully this pet mat will be paired with an animal in need, and both will find a welcoming home.