Crochet rug

I've been hoping a reason to buy some Zpagetti yarn would come along for awhile now, and I finally came up with one! I needed a small rug to put in front of the basin in our toilet so that the splashes that come out (it's one of those stupid small basins that you can't help but make a mess with) don't get all over the floor and make it slippery. It's a total health and safety thing. Really. It suddenly occurred to me that a red crocheted rug in Zpagetti would be just the ticket. The yarn itself isn't that expensive, but it's heavy and the shipping to NZ from Australia cost as much again so it's not a cheap rug, but I love it! This rug took 1.5 large cones.

I used this pattern from Gosyo -the link is to the pdf of the pattern, you can see the whole range of their free patterns here. If you are a knitter or a crocheter and haven't been to their site you must, it's full of great patterns. I have yet to check out their yarns etc. but at a glance it looks interesting, not sure about shipping etc. from Japan though.

There are a few issues with it, and I'm not sure if it's the yarn or the pattern because I'm not all that experienced with doing ovals. The pattern called for seven stitches into the last chain at each end and that bulk meant that it turned out sort of lozenge-shaped. I think if I did it again then I'd only do five or even three. The edging doesn't sit all that well going around the ends, it pulls too tight compared to how it is down the sides. I suspect both these issues are more to do with the bulk of the Zpagetti than the pattern, and if I felt like pulling it all apart (I don't) and redid it then it would be just perfect!

Here is Ollie helping take the photos. The only way I could get him to stay out of the one above and stop attacking the rug was to make him sit and stay behind me. Amazingly it worked. Sometimes he really is an A dog even though he was a solid B at puppy school. Apparently he is very good at 'stay' and 'leave' - for a pug.