Before televisions came in, the dark nights would be taken up by some craft or other, one of which was making peg rugs out of old material, be it curtains clothes blankets or anything of any colour. It was cut into long one to two inch strips and then into four inch lengths, the bodged into the hession. Mother had plenty of pairs of scissors, one for each of us.
I
Remember Mother’s Peg Rug
I remember
mother, when she used to make peg rugs,
There to put
your feet on, while drinking ovaltine out of mugs,
As kids it kept
us off brick floor, just before our bedtime,
Feet all nice
and cosy, till up the stairs we climb.
She started with
piece of Hessian, the size of rug she wants
Often it’s a big
old bag, a thick one found on her farm jaunts,
Next she digs
out all old cloths, of all the colours to find,
With these can
make a pattern, with boarder and centre outlined.
Cut them up all
into strips, and then to four inch long,
Father always
helped with this, to groups of colour they belong,
With the bodger
they got started, three rows round the side,
All of us we had
a go, centre marked shape of pattern applied.
As it got near
to the finish, essential colour runs short,
Up stairs into
the wardrobe, through the cloths she’d sort,
To find a matching
colour, someone’s shirt or tie submits,
Finished now and
backing complete, and sweeping up the bits.
Owd Fred
