My oldest sister, Chris, has four kids and lots of pets -- there have been many, many pets over the years, so I decided to pay tribute to the current crop of pets in this checkerboard....
I stole the idea for only using part of each pet from a previous rug I started years ago (and still only one pet or about 1/15th of the rug has been hooked). Since simplified matters, and I was on a deadline, I think it worked out well. At the time I made the mat, they had only these 10 pets....and I laughed out loud when my nephew asked me a year or two later when I was going to fix it -- and replace the departed pets with the current crop. Not a chance!
I have had to fix the mat a couple of times over the years...mostly pulled loops caused by the cat, that I've noticed while visiting. I've resorted to using a dinner fork and another time, a big needle, to pull up a couple of loops on these occasions....what different things have you used when a hook's been out of reach?
And just to keep things even (as we sisters ought to), here is the mat I made for my other older sister, Sandra's, two kids....
It's aptly called Six Feet Under, since I watched most of the series while hooking this piece....and it commemorates a particularly special day of looking for turtles with Wyatt and Sienna on my parents lake, where we saw a record number. I know there is not enough contrast in values in this piece...but my excuse is that the rug is true to nature -- it's difficult to spot turtles in real life, too.
