My focus for the last two years has been to "get crooked." I thought I had made a breakthrough with Karen Kahle at Sauder Village in 2006. I was working on her Antique Rose Runner during the lunch break. All the other students were off eating and I was so excited about what and how I was hooking that I decided to work through lunch.
A woman came into the classroom to see what we were working on. I sat on the far side of the room. When she made her way to me, I stretched out the backing so she could get a better view. "Nice," she mumbled. I then explained how I was concentrating on making everything crooked. She brightened up and said, "Oh, it is supposed to be that way."
She probably felt sorry for me. This poor hooker can't hook a straight line!
I love this story because that week changed my hooking dramatically. I explained the feeling to my friends as "hooking naked." I had no cares about what row I was hooking in. I grabbed whatever color was on top. I turned my brain off and hooked away. I had that rug finished within two weeks of coming home. I usually return from camp with less than a square foot hooked.
I applied this mind set to the design of this rug. The four corners are slightly different. Nothing is perfect. But when I got to hooking the boundaries for the hit and miss, I hooked three rows in perfect alignment. I was unhappy about the look, see the post for Day 35! It took me this long to figure out what was wrong. This is one reason I always move out to the borders ASAP.
I decided to use the line I drew for the edge as a guideline only. I wavered three holes left and right at random. Then I hooked another strip on each side for the three rows I wanted. Much better. You can see the crooked rows in the post for Day 094. In Day 065 you can see how much of the straight stuff I ripped out.
I don't have this rug in my rug gallery on my website yet. I will let you know here when it is up and ready. www.cindigay.com
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