The details, the details. Have I told you I don't care to hook with yarn...at all? For me, I struggle hooking with yarn. Yarn is so pretty and soft, looks wonderful in rugs but each time I'm trying to hook with yarn it is a fight, who will win? I have to slow down, go careful and I have to be more exact perhaps is how I feel about hooking with yarn. Fabric is more forgiving and can stand up to my rough and tumble ways. I pulled out my Tall Ship grey lines (not a boat person so I don't know the name for the lines) I had hooked and replaced with black wool yarn. So annoying and finicky working with wool yarn, have I told you that? (laughing).
I didn't get much time to rug hook this week.
My work table mocked me each time I went into my studio. My Tall Ship sat waiting for me to come back and do more work on it. My inspiration is hung on the wall to help keep me on track. It is a wonderful area to hook.
Starr Burgess shared a video this week on Facebook on how to hide the ends of your wool, if you so desire to hide them. I wish I had of learned this before beginning my rug but now that I know how to do this method, I'm practicing doing it on my sky within this rug. I had been shown before about hiding ends and I think I just wasn't ready to learn how to do that and now I am so I've taken note and I'm practicing as I said.
I did up some bundles of wool this week that I thought looked great together, a little wool fabric, a little wool yarn and some fleece. They look so pretty don't you think?
I dyed up some wool yarns and made a new color this weekend that I'm calling Rock Face. It never ceases to amaze me how I start off with a plan on what I want to dye and before I know it I'm deviating from the 'plan'. In addition to my list to restock product in my shop, I wanted to dye up some brown solids and I wanted to play with different brown powder dyes I have on hand to see what they look like dyed up. I put the brown dyes I wanted to use on the fabric and then I think hmmmmm, it looks awful dull, I need to brighten it up some, what if I put some orange on it? What would that do? On goes orange and wow, I have a lovely new color I'm calling Rock Face. Love it!
Back to my Tall Ship Tales rug. The sky is coming along. Speaking of skies, I saw a sky someone had hooked on one of my Facebook pages I frequent and they reversed hooked the background using a textured wool plaid I believe. I have reversed hooked before but this was different, this was long strips that made the background look wonderful! Kind of like a basket weave. You would need just the right rug to do this on and I must remember to try this real soon. Ok I get off topic real easy, not that I really have a topic.
Here is a close up of my rug to date.
I keep finding things I want to modify/change. Is that normal? I'd like to think it is. Usually my rugs don't hang around for very long not finished but when I have a big rug like this, I have more time in which to pick it apart until it is done. The end is in sight now. I have so many other projects I want to get to. What would you do for a border on this piece? Would you do a border at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts so please post comments. I had planned a wide border but now I'm thinking I may not.
I got my registration submitted this week for this rug to be placed on display at the Lunenburg Museum this summer. I can't wait to see what others have done for the Tall Ship display of rugs.
Have a great week everyone, hope you get to do all you want to this week and if you don't that you have the time in which to 'get to it' the following week. We take time for granted until something reminds us that it is so precious, so cherish every moment because it is the moments that count.