Lesson: Hook a bit here, then a bit there

I'll be away from the rug hooking frame while I clear out some backlogged paperwork to get ready to do the dreaded taxes. It used to take a day or so to get things ready but with the business, it seems to take forever. I have decided to hit it hard and get it done.


While clearing off my hard drive, I found this photo. It is a bit dark, but it is a perfect example of how I hook all over the project. This helps me to get a feel for how the colors work and if I run into a problem, I just move on. My goal is to complete the background before I complete the motifs.

This is a footstool pattern available from Kim Nixon at www.undertherug.com called Square Pocketful. You can see it finished here. I designed a companion footstool.



This footstool was designed to work out some of the design ideas I had for my room-sized rug. For those of you following the blog you can see the resemblance. This pattern is called Annie's Square Flower Power and you can purchase it on Kim's site also. This is the only pattern of mine that is not available from www.spruceridgestudios.com

Day 442 Center DONE. . . well, almost

I "finished" the center this morning. It is not not completely done because I need to check for holidays. This means that I will inspect the back of the rug and look for larger than normal spaces where I did not hook. They are easy to see on the back but impossible to see on the front.

Some of the early books I read suggested using toothpicks to mark the holes. I found that technique almost impossible. When I marked a bunch of them and then put the rug back on the frame, many of the toothpicks pushed out because they hit the grippers on my frame. Yarn is so much easier. You can roll the rug up, transport it and then get right back to filling in the holidays without any of the markers falling out. Below is the back of my rug with just two spaces marked. You can clearly see the spaces.



On the front, all you see is the yarn. I will find the holes by pushing up with my fingers at the spot marked by the yarn. A loop or two is all that is needed to fill most spaces. I usually do this when the rug is completely done, but I will not be able to reach the center once I hook all the borders.

Now why is all this important? It has to do with wear. As the rug is on the floor and walked on, the loops surrounding the holiday will fall over to fill in the space. Making the surface uniform will ensure even wear.

DID YOU KNOW? I don't usually shrink the pictures I post on this blog. If you want a closer view, you can click on the picture.

Day 99. I am settled into the circle border with one exception. Do I want to hook multi-colored spots in between the circles, or do I want to keep that feature consistent? I have already ruled out hooking all the background black. I like the way the extra spots almost camouflage the circles. Hooking an all black background made the circles stand out too much.

As you can see I started on the right with multi-colored spots. I switched to a beige wool to hook the spots and am tinkering with the idea of using that as the background for the major border. That border is the one that started everything with the stair risers, Queen Anne Rose and Annie's Scrolls, available at Spruce Ridge Studios. On my page you will need to scroll down about half way to see the stair risers.

The biggest lesson here is that I hooked the new idea (all one color spots) that came to me to see what it looked like. AND I am not taking out my first attempt. I may even hook more mult-colored spots until I am sure of my decision. I will not change the discarded idea until I have no more room to hook. I often find that leaving the little oddities in the rug (usually because I just plain forget to go back) make the rug so much more interesting. I try to never rip out until I need that room to hook.

Second Attempt at Video

Day 38 of rug hooking: Resolving the Large Leaves

The large leaf motif is one that I have not hooked in my study pieces so this was new territory. I hooked the two shown first. I added two different wools around the veins just to break up the area. The fill area of the leaf was so large. I did not like either solution.

Next I hooked the veins with the vein color only, no secondary color. The vein was a bit harsh. Then I decided to try just the lighter value. This is the same wool that I am using to fill the scrolls. I like this a lot better. The dark that I tried initially was too dark on its own, but I like the look of two different values together. This is something that I might not have thought about if I had ripped out the dark when I decided I did not like it alone. My personal rule is to not rip out until I need the spot to hook. You need to see what does not work in order to find what does work.

When I hook the next leaf, I will try the light vein with another wool. When I find something I like, then I need to decide if I want them all the same. Probably not. I will need to find a few solutions that work.