My Nanna, my Mum’s mother, died when I was 7, almost exactly 20 years ago. I have only good memories of her, as does everyone else 
She made THE best cups of tea, taught me the difference between a weed and a plant and made me eat chickweed sandwiches when I was sick.
MMM…taters!
Nanna made a crochet rug for each of her grandchildren up until she died. She had 11 adult children so that was ALOT of grandchildren! I specifically remember her bringing a big bag of yarn for me to choose the colours I wanted. I chose blue, pink and purple, and this is my rug:
At over 20 years old it’s faded, covered in pilling, and has a hole that will only grow, so it stays safely tucked away. After buying my reading chair recently I decided I need a rug for it, and then when I realised I would be off work for 2 weeks after my surgery I decided that a great recovery would be to lean back in my new chair, watch Supernatural, and crochet a rug, all for me. I once got about 1/3 of the way through a rug the same style as the one above, in dark blue and black. My mum started it for me and I never did finish it, and now the colours just aren’t me.
I’ve decided to start from scratch. For my new rug, I want to do it all myself, do it as a ‘granny square’ rug (a patchwork of small squares instead of one big one), and I have also decided that it would be a reimagining of my original rug from Nanna, using mostly the same colours.
My work colleague, who is a big knitter, has suggested I use real wool from a very reasonably priced supplier who sells it machine washable and almost itch free. Nanna’s rugs were all acrylic yarn (when you have to make that many, they have to be!), but a real wool one appeals to me as my house can get quite cold. So I am going to look at a colour card next week and order from there.
In the meantime I wanted to do a few test squares, to decide the design, colours and size of the squares. My Aunt, upon hearing about my plans, called with some great news. She actually has Nanna’s old crocheting bags, complete with yarn! Better still, some of the colours match my blanket, and were probably actually used to make it. Isn’t that amazing?!
So, after a very quick YouTube tutorial, I set about crocheting properly for the first time. This is the result, and will be the design I use in my rug:
The rug will be a patchwork of ‘mini Nanna rugs’ broken up by the white. I chose to incorporate the white to make the mini versions of my rug pop, and to also break up the colour a bit. If I were making a blanket to my tastes, as opposed to a tribute blanket, the colour scheme would be far more neutral. The white tones the colour down a bit, yet conversely, highlights the design of the original rug….I am very pleased with the way I have reimagined it. The blue and the pink yarn you see in the test squares is over 20 years old and from the same lot as my original blanket! Even though I will only use that yarn in the test squares, it’s still a wonderful feeling
My surgery is still 7 weeks away, so I am going to order wool in a couple of weeks and won’t be starting on the rug until just before the surgery. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted!
In spite of the chill of late autumn, it’s been a very ‘warm’ weekend, full of hanging out with my Aunty, crocheting, baking cupcakes and finding an old 2 cent coin in my chair 
