Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grateful for family, friends, good food, and a day to relax!

Well,...after all the baking and cooking is finished!

Wishing you all good things!

 

Salmon & Wild Roses

This rug marks the beginning of my "fish phase" several years ago.

The inspiration is all about a quiet little bay in Washington State, where my family camps each summer with my dad, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews.

Salmon & Wild Roses is a compilation of images and memories from my visits there. I admit, it seems like an odd topic, to have salmon and wild roses together in a rug, but for me it works, as I will explain.

The beach is narrow in some places where the meadow with it's wild roses and beach grass come right down to the logs and rock-filled shore. When I stand on that beach looking out at the water I imagine that salmon are swimming out past the inlet, on their way to the mouth of the river that is right around the bend.

The undulating edges of the rug are meant to suggest the waves lapping on the beach.

Having a lot of movement in the background was important to me. I wanted to convey the rhythmic motion of waves coming into shore.

I like how the roses dance around the background with the salmon. As if I had grabbed a handful of blossoms and thrown them out onto the water's surface to watch how the tide dispersed them.

Salmon & Wild Roses measures 31" x 52". It can be found in my ETSY shop with other patterns, hand-dyed wool and rug hooking related items.

 

Crocheted Loop Edging

Making hooked pieces into pillows is a wonderful way to expand your hooking repertoire!

A hooked pillow sitting on your couch or chair is a ready invitation to come and sit a bit.

Often times when I hook a pillow, I finish it by sewing on a wool backing then stuffing the pillow with batting; or I will make an envelope-type closure to fit over a pillow form. I know some rug hookers save their wool snippet, (cut ends from their strips) for stuffing pillows.

This pillow, Abby Cat, was hooked as a gift for a friend who's 16 year old cat passed away earlier this spring. Abby, was a small white cat with two different colored eyes and loads of personality. She would not be denied the chance to sit on your lap when you came to visit. Also, she loved to eat flowers, so my friend had to keep the vases of flowers on high shelves where Abby could not reach them.

In designing this rug, I wanted it to convey a happy light-hearted feeling. A design that would evoke sweet memories of a dearly loved pet. My friend adores the flowers, Lilly of the Valley, so putting those in the design was a nice balance to the white cat motif. I knew Abby needed to be surrounded by flowers, since in life, she seemed to have a "thing" for them! The arching leaves above the cat give motion to the piece, and lead your eye back to the cat, as you take in the other motifs and lettering.

I thought the pillow needed some sort of fringe around the edge. I love the look of a proddy fringe, but was concerned it would be too "heavy" for the feel of this pillow. I have used a wide strip of wool, tacked in random fashion as an edging for a small pumpkin pillow of mine. I like how it added a little bit of fancy feel to the pillow. So that's how the idea to do something similar, a crocheted loop edging, for this pillow was born.

I had some lovely hand-dyed wool yarn that perfectly matched the background of the pillow. The idea was originally to use a single chain stitch, but I found that I wanted more substance to the crocheted loop edging. What finally worked is a chain stitch that is approximately 2 times longer than the perimeter of the pillow (plus about 8" to allow for loops at corners), that is turned and single crocheted back across the chain. (Big thanks to my crafting friend Trish, she rescued me as I tried to figure out this technique. She sweetly ended up making me the edging.)

I tacked the crocheted loop edging to the pillow edge, between the hooking and the wool back fabric, with the same yarn that was used to make the crocheted loop edging. I did this in random fashion because I like how that adds character, and frankly, I'm too impatient to try to measure everything just so.

The Abby Cat pattern can be ordered from my ETSY shop. It can be personalized for your cat, or the name space above "CAT" can be left as a blank background.

Tomorrow this pillow with the crocheted loop edging, goes to live with my friend Kim.

Abby Cat will sit on the couch, chair, or just maybe... snuggle on a lap.

 

Untitled

We make hooked rugs in all shapes and sizes.

The biggest rug I have hooked is 40" x 52", the smallest have been punch needle, broach size, and I have hooked many rugs in between those sizes.

Sometimes I like to hook small pieces to give as gifts or to use as auction items for fundraisers. Hooking little mats is a great way to play with color, to experiment with an idea you may want to use later in a bigger rug.

The dove and squirrel mats were my most recent take-a-break, have fun with color and design, and see what might happen pieces.

I know there are a lot of creative folks out there. What sort of small project is on your hooking "to do" list?

 

Fall Is In The Air

Fall has arrived late this year.

Slowly leaves are turning color yet still cling to the trees. Some afternoons have even been too warm for wearing long sleeves. And yet, there is that overwhelming sense that fall is in the air.

There is the early morning chill, when the furnace needs to be turned on. The faint whiff of woodsmoke from fireplaces when I am outside with my dog. The bountiful bins filled with local pumpkins, squash and apples at the farmer's market.

My garden is also telling me that the season is changing. It's time to cut back the dying plants and flowers. (But remember to leave hollow-stalked plants for bees to hibernate in.) Time to throw leaves and mulch over the soil and let nature have a rest, to have it's time to renew.

The days are getting shorter. The sun slants at a lower angle. Nature is slowing down. For me, it feels good and right to be nested inside and to creatively lose myself in a hooking project.

There is this juxtaposition of Nature inviting us to slow down, to cozy-in, to rest. Yet the holidays loom ahead with a flurry of activity. An expectation to shop, bake and attend parties. The slowing down of the season seems to be at odds with the gearing up for the holidays. This disconnect can make me feel out of step with myself if I am not careful.

My goal in the next couple of months is to find a balance. To find time for self care which is my creative hooking and crafting time, so that I can enjoy the shopping, baking, and partying, while still feeling grounded and unstressed!

Fall is in the air. I am taking notes from Nature on how to slow down. I hope you can too.

Please visit my ETSY shop to find newly listed hand-dyed wool and hooking related items. Thank You!

 

How Do YOU Color Plan?

Do you have favorite color combinations that you gravitate towards because it fits with your decor? Maybe your colors are dictated by your hooked piece because it is seasonally themed, using warm browns and golden tones for fall, or reds for a Christmas rug.

Perhaps you have found the perfect colored wools and are all set in your mind, that the background will be these colors no matter what, and you are willing to have the motifs be modified with the tones you use, because that color for the background is the driving force of the rug.

When I color plan a rug, it is both exciting and anxiety producing. Can I get the colors and values that are in my mind's eye to work in this piece?

Will the red wool scarf that I found in the thrift store work as well for apples as I'm envisioning?

Can I get the soft blue values of my dye formula, Pearly Everlasting, to work as a background and still have my kitten motif show up well even though it is light in value?

When I begin a new rug, I almost ALWAYS hook the background and motifs simultaneously. This is a big deal for me. I like to experiment with how all the colors, values, and tones blend together. My work area will look like a big mess because I'm often juggling one wool that reads too dark or too light and changing it out for a color that works better. This approach can make the beginning stages of the rug challenging and maybe even a little frustrating, but the trade off is worth it to me. I often consult my color wheel to help me figure out the possibilities. By working on background and motifs at the same time, I'm not left at the end trying to figure out what my background will be, nor do I need to change out my motif's values because they don't work with the newly chosen background.

I do not begin to believe that my way of approaching color planning is the only way. I have found a system that works for me. I tend to be a bit lazy, and prefer not to reverse hook more than I need to, so hooking motifs, backgrounds and borders all at once helps me see the big picture early on in my creative practice.

I hope you have a system for color planning that works for you. If not, maybe you can begin to explore an approach which makes you happy with your process and finished piece.

Happy Hooking!

Please visit my ETSY shop to view my rugs and other hooking related items.

 

Dye Day

To dye or not to dye, that is the question I often ask myself when I am color planning a rug. Sometimes as I lay all the colors out, seeing how they respond to each other, I realize the colors I am using are not quite right. I need a wool that leans a little more to the blue green, or the red I want needs to be warmer rather than cooler.

Once I decide to have a Dye Day, it is a magical time. The whole process is inspiring! From choosing the wools to dye, mixing the dyes, and watching the wool take on color. My favorite part is when the wools come out of the dryer. I hurry with them to a nearby window to see what color they really are! It is amazing to watch how the colors can change like a chameleon depending on what sort of lighting you have to view them!

If you have not tried dyeing yet, I encourage you at some point to do so. Find a color palette that makes you excited and inspired. Invest in the dye spoons, dyes and wools and have fun being a chemist. If you are not ready to invest in the dyeing tools etc., there are a lot of acceptable ways to cut corners especially for cost by buying recycled wools. You can bleed out dye to alter that wool or save the dye to use on other wool. That process can be rewarding but hard to duplicate the results. If you belong to a Hooking Guild, maybe they will have a Dye Day to help you gain some experience.

In the meantime, please check out my ETSY shop to see some of the magic that I have created!

So much fun