The yarns:

Touch Yarns
Ashford Tekapo
Supreme Possum Merino
Rare Essentials (alpaca/merino), ‘grown and produced in Australia and New Zealand’
Magic Garden Buttons (Made by Naturally)
Naturally Perendale
John Q Designer Creative DK
Perendale Premium Blend (made by Design Spun)
Rainbow 8ply New Wool (made by Woolmart)

Of all the yarns I used in the rug, only the Rare Essentials wasn’t labelled ‘New Zealand wool’. I wanted to use all New Zealand yarn if I could, and not only was I able to but by the end of the trip I hadn’t even needed to use one brands of local yarn twice (except Naturally, as I didn’t realise that the Magic Buttons was a Naturally yarn until later.) I could have added more brands of NZ yarn, as I found Crucci yarn and the local Red Heart brand on the last day, as well as Shepherd which, while an ACS yarn, is made from NZ wool.

The Touch Yarns wool was the softest of the 100% wool yarns. The Rare Essentials was close in softness though, along with the Buttons, thin for an 8ply. The Possum Merino was the thickest (the black worked fine as a substitute for 10ply for Le Slouch) and soft in a robust, squishy way. I was surprised to find Ashford’s Tekapo was by far the harshest yarn – really quite scratchy.

The pattern:

I opted for a simple mitre square pattern, starting at a corner and adding a diagonal ‘stripe’ of each new yarn as we travelled, then repeating the sequence of colours at home to finish the second half. Then I added a garter stitch border, starting with the last yarn – in a complimentary colour – then following with yarns used in the middle. And finally there were all the ends to sew in and trim off:

Conclusion:

The souvenir rug idea worked better than I hoped. There was plenty of yarn and it was an easy project to work on as we travelled. I love the mix of blues and greens, and it’s the perfect size for keeping legs warm while watching tv, or sitting in a car. I reckon I could do with another one. In red. Hmm.