blankets
such very commonplace articles as your discarded gray eiderdown
kimona, and a pair of your Uncle's old gray trousers, which have
already been washed and ripped by Sibylla, to be used for making
carpet rags. These, combined with the gray skirt I heard you say had
outlived its day of usefulness, will furnish the background of the
rug. The six triangles in the centre of the rug, also lighter stripes
at each end of the rug, we will make of that old linen chair-cover and
your faded linen skirt, which you said I might use for carpet rags;
and, should more material be needed, I have some old, gray woolen
underwear in my patch bag, a gray-white, similar to the real Navajo.
The rows of black with which we shall outline the triangles may be
made from those old, black, silk-lisle hose you gave me, by cutting
them round and round in one continuous strip. Heavy cloth should be
cut in _very_ narrow strips. Sibylla will do that nicely; her hands
are more used to handling large, heavy shears than are yours. The
linen-lawn skirt you may cut in strips about three-fourths of an inch
in width, as that material is quite thin. I would sew rags of one
color together like carpet rags, not lapping the ends more than
necessary to hold them together. The rug will be reversible, both
sides being exactly alike when finished. I should make the rug about
fifty-three stitches across. This will require about six and
one-fourth yards of carpet rags, when sewed together, to crochet once
across. I think it would be wise to cut all rags of different weight
materials before commencing to crochet the rug, so they may be well
mixed through. I will assist you with the work at odd moments, and in
a short time the rug will be finished."

The rug, when finished, was truly a work of art, and represented many
hours of labor and thought. But Mary considered it very fascinating
work, and was delighted with the result of her labor--a rug the exact
imitation of one of the Professor's genuine Indian Navajo blankets,
the work of her own hands, and without the expenditure of a penny.

Mary remarked: "I do not think all the triangles in my rug are the
exact size of the paper pattern you made me, Aunt Sarah. The two in
the centre appear larger than the others."

"Well," remarked her Aunt, "if you examine closely the blankets owned
by Professor Schmidt, you will find the on the ones woven by Navajo
Indians are not of an equal size."

'Tis said Navajo blankets