Crocheted Sisal Rug

With these simple instructions, you can make your own sisal mat any size you want.  It's perfect as a welcome mat, in a mud room, or think big and make a new dining room rug!  All you need is some sisal from the hardware store and a crochet hook, and you're ready to go.  For the price of one door mat, you could make 50! 

You don't even need to know how to crochet, because I'm going to do my best to teach you!

Git you a big heapa sisal (hardware store) and giant fat crochet hook (I used this one, but would choose a smaller hook for the next one). 

And some gloves or tape to wrap around your fingers.  You'll figure that out soon enough. - sisal is tough on the skin!

If you're new to crochet, don't fret.  It's totally easy.  Check out this tutorial or this video for some help, and I'll do my best to talk you through what  I did.

First, make a chain as long as you want the rug to be wide.  Mine is 24". 

To make a chain, start with a slip knot, and place that on your crochet hook.  Loop the sisal over the hook part of the . . . hook. . . and pull that loop through the slip knot, leaving you with only the new loop on the hook.  Repeat!

Ok, you've made a whole chain as long as you want the rug to be wide, yeah?    Cool.

Now you're going to crochet new loops into the chain  you just made.

Insert the hook into the second chain from the hook.  Wrap the sisal around the hook just like you did in the last step. 

Pull the sisal through the first loop only.    This leaves you again with two loops on your hook.

Wrap the sisal around your hook again, and pull it through both loops on your hook.

Look at you!  You just made a "single crochet"!  Well done.

Now keep doing that across the whole row.

The next row is slightly trickier.  But only slightly!  See, when you crochet your next rows, you've got two loops to deal with for each crochet.  Confusing?  To help illustrate, I slid my fingers through each of the places you would normally crochet into.

But!  This project is a little special!  I wanted some fun ridges in the rug, so I only crocheted into the front loops.  You don't have to do it this way - you can crochet the traditional way and slide your hook under both loops each time. It's up to you.

First, you'll make one more chain stitch.  This will help you turn around and work the other row.  You'll do this at the end of each row before you proceed your next round of single crochets. 

Next, slide the hook under the front loop of the first single crochet.  Then do a "single crochet" (like we did in the last step) into that loop.  Repeat across the row.

Now, keep repeating this step until the rug is as long as you want it.

Once the rug is the size you want, you're pretty much done, and can cut the end of the sisal and weave it through the edges.  If you want to get fancy though, you can crochet a border around it.

I did a series of slip stitches, which is like a simplified single crochet.  Instead of pulling the new loop through the first and creating another loop to pull through both, you just pull the initial loop you make through both the loops on the hook.  One less step. 

Make two to four rows of slip stitches all the way around the rug - sides and everything.  When you come to a corner, make three slip stitches in each stitch so it will have enough material to turn the corner easily without making it too tight.

Enjoy!