Last night was one of those cool, clear, crisp late August evenings. I will not lament about the end of summer, let’s just enjoy what’s left and notice what is knocking on summer's door – autumn. Lovely!
It is a rare weekend that my family (daughter, son and their boy/girlfriends) is all together. We have a late evening tradition of dipping into our wood-fired hot tub when the temps are not sweltering. All summer I’ve been padding around the hot tub barefoot. But, last night was chilly and I wished we had a mat next to the tub.
I’ve coveted the beautiful, earthy-colored Clustered Felted Mat (above) from VivaTerra for a while. How beautiful is that? It would be just perfect on my deck right next to the tub. While I have purchased items from VivaTerra in the past because I love their commitment to the environment and for using pure and stylish materials handcrafted by artisans, this mat is just too pricey to put next to the tub (large mat - $695). But...they can provide the inspiration for DIY possibilities to create something similar to this:
This tutorial from Craftster uses felted leftover yarn balls. The creator of the DIY rug explains her process:
“I started making balls out of my stash of leftover wool. (You know that stash of wool you can't bear to part with but don't have enough to actually knit/crochet a whole project?) I used a combination of hand and machine felting, and sewed the stones together by hand with a nylon twine."
Made in neutral stone-colored tones, I think this method for creating a similar mat, might just be what will keep my feet toasty after those evening dips. Certainly worth a try, don’t you think?
Credits: VivaTerra, Sea Otter Designs, Crafster