Published on August 27th, 2016 by Kate Eastwood Crochet Club: dog mat! So, what better than a bone shaped place mat for your perfect pooch? Made in 100% cotton aran it is hardwearing, yet soft to the paws, and can be popped in the washing machine whenever necessary. For my mat I used. I used 3 x Blue 82 and 1 x Orange 93. For the main body of the mat I worked with 2 strands and a size 5mm hook to create a really firm fabric, and the orange border was worked with 1 strand and a size 3. This tutorial is written in UK crochet terms, but you can convert to US terminology using our. The bone shape is worked by starting with an oval centre, with the bone shaping to the ends added after. Using 2 strands of the blue and a 5 mm hook make a chain of 31. Round 1: Starting in the 2 nd chain from the hook work TR all along the chain. At the end of the chain work 3 HTR and then working down the other side of the chain, work a further 28 TR to bring you back to the beginning. Work 3 HTR in to the end stitch and Sl St to join. Round 2: Work 29 HTR, and at the end of the row work 2 HTR in to the first corner stitch, 2 HTR in the stitch at the top and then 2 HTR in the second corner stitch. Work 29 HTR back down the other side and then 2 HTR in to each of the corners and the top stitch, as before. Sl St to join at the end of the round. Round 3: Work 30 HTR and then in to the five stitches around the curve at the top work 2 HTR, 2 HTR, 1 HTR, 2 HTR, 2 HTR. Work 30 HTR back down the other side and repeat the stitch pattern for the 5 stitches around the curve, as above. Round 4: Work 31 HTR and then in to the 7 stitches around the curve at the top work 2 HTR, 2 HTR, 1 HTR, 1 HTR, 1 HTR, 2 HTR, 2 HTR. Work 31 HTR back down the other side and repeat the stitch pattern for the 7 stitches around the curve, as above. Rounds 5 and 6 : Work 2 rounds of HTR, joining the end of each round with a Sl St and working a CH 1 at the start of each round. At the end of Round 6 join with a Sl St and finish off. Before adding the shaping at each end of the bone I found it helpful to add some marked points to help to get the placing of the ends correct. Mark the centre of each end by folding the oval in half lengthways. Once you have marked the centre points, count back 6 stitches either side of your central marker and mark these two points. Repeat at each end. Now work the following stitch pattern: DC 1, work 3 HTR in to the next stitch, 4 x TR into the next stitch and then 5 DTR in to the next stitch. Work 4 TR in to the next stitch, 3 HTR in to the next stitch and then a DC in to the next stitch. Sl St in to the next stitch and turn. Repeat this 3 more times on each curve. Finish off and sew in the ends. For the border I used 1 strand of orange and a 3. Rejoin your orange yarn, chain 2 and work a round of HTR all the way around the edge of the bone. Finish off and sew in the ends. When not working at her nursery school she loves nothing more than a day of pootling around, with crochet, sofa and tea being right at the top of the list.