yum yum silk

When I first discovered sari silk ribbons several years ago, it was love at first sight. Not only was it something new and different, but it was also such an interesting texture and sheen, which added great contrast against more matte wool. I especially loved the shiny factor and that almost every strip in the skein was unique and different. The rare striped and brocade pieces were always a special treat.

In the last while, this attraction has been waning and I've become a little disenchanted by the ribbons that were available. It seemed to change from something unique to something mass-produced, less silky, a little dull....and oh, so fuzzy and hairy. (I had a really hard time with the hairiness.....and spent way too much time cutting it off!)


So I was thrilled to find a new source for the ribbon recently that is more like the ribbon I first fell in love with.....and I'm giving it a second chance. Of course, the new skeins are bigger (100g) and they only come in assorted skeins, but that's no biggie, there's just more selection. And, each skein practically comes with the promise of being perfect for several projects!

I cannot wait to start playing around with it in my next batch of clutches and coin purses – it's almost like getting a new box of crayons or coloured pencils for back to school! ;-)

Yarn Cakes

In early July, I headed down to the "Circle of Friends" hook-in, for the first time. It was a lovely day spent with friends....and a great weekend of shopping. I only bought a few things at the hook-in, remaining true to my personal pledge of being on a wool diet (I am not to buy any wool yardage this calendar year). This resolution luckily does not apply to yarn.....and I was happy to score some "Yarn Cakes" of handspun from Sandra Marshall.


The small balls and mini-skeins are just the perfect size for adding a flash of colour or texture to a mat. I picked out most of these with little landscapes in mind. But for now, they are just serving as eye candy and inspiration. So pretty.

I also purchased a wonderful felted bowl from Sandra, and I've been using it for the past week to collect my snippets. So far, so good. I especially like that the bits of wool tend to stick to the inside, so when it falls (as it inevitably does at least once a day), very little falls out onto the floor. But, it's still very easy to empty out when the times comes, and it's soft and squishy, so I don't need to worry about it getting damaged if I'm travelling. I cannot recommend it enough.

playing catch-up.....Christmas in July

Even though I took a bit of a break from rug hooking, I didn't really stop thinking about it -- or collecting stuff for it! ;-) Since I have a bit of a backlog, I am going to start sharing some of these items, beginning today.

A mysterious package arrived a couple of weeks ago from my friend Dorinda. It was unexpected – and even more curious, wrapped in Christmas paper! The notecard read "Christmas in July" and the carton was filled with lots of individually wrapped packages....


One, by one, each of the bundles was unwrapped to reveal these beautiful antique hooks....


Needless to say, I was speechless. For the longest time, my antique hook collection consisted of only 1 hook -- the hook that my great grandmother used, crafted from the tine of a barn fork. Then, a few months ago, I purchased several hooks at RUG. With the arrival of my "Christmas" present, my collection more than quadrupled! It was a very generous - and thoughtful - gift that I didn't know that I wanted, but that I am oh, so happy to receive. Thanks Dorinda -- I love them!

weeks 9 to 12: 20 square feet

Whoosh! I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since my last update – the summer really is speeding by – I'm a little disappointed that I took such a long break. But the good news is that I've finally gotten back to my hooking frame. I hooked more yesterday than I did in the last month and a half combined. Suffice is to say that my shoulder is back to normal, and I'm looking forward to more regular hooking time in the coming weeks.

My plan is to finish this end of the centre (about 7 square feet - I added on about 6 additional inches) by Labour Day. It's an ambitious goal, but I still feel it's do-able. Then I think I am going to have to take a break while I prepare for the classes I am teaching this Fall. There's dyeing to do, coin purses and clutches to hook, patterns to create, pictures to scan and lesson plans to create. Once all of that work is done, I'll get back to work on the other half of this centre section....with the hope that I will be into the borders by the New Year.

I'm hopeful that these goals will help to keep me on track to finish. Goals are a necessary aspect of my regular process.....and even more essential with a project this overwhelmingly large. I'd better get to work....

P.S. Sorry for the crappy iPhone picture – I forgot my camera at work today....

week nine: 19.121 square feet

Not a single loop hooked this week, and now I seem to have hurt my shoulder.....oops! Hopefully I'll soon be hooking again.

The last few weeks have been busy -- and hot! That's what summer is all about.....hope you're enjoying summer, too.

Week Eight: 19.121 square feet

It's no coincidence that knitting is included in the photo....since that's pretty much all I have to show for myself this week. Well knitting and the two short rows of cream/navy houndstooth I hooked one night last week. I've decided that it's just plain old too hot to hook....so in the meantime I'm taking it easy and trying not to razz myself too much. There will be lots of time for hooking in the weeks and months ahead.....not to mention lots of days with much cooler temperatures!

Week Seven: 19.12 square feet

No, that's not a typo -- I only hooked about 18 square inches this past week, between the heat, work, and several celebrations and gatherings. I'm feeling more worried than disappointed with the lack of progress..... and more than a little afraid that I might lose the momentum of my first few weeks. I'm definitely planning to get more done this week.....

P.S. My internet has been down since Thursday afternoon, and is finally up and running now. I'm playing catch-up, with over 50 e-mails.....so my apologies if you've been waiting for a reply. I hope to get caught up in the next day or so and I thank you for your patience....

Week Six: 19 square feet

It was a slow week for hooking....but as I keep reminding myself: as long as I don't stop, I will finish! I was only able to hook 3 evenings this past week, and that's okay. Any amount of progress is still progress.

Work is crazy busy, life is normal busy, and it feels like summer is finally here! I set up my tent at the Campsite on the weekend and it was good to escape reality and slept there Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday and Sunday were both great days spent at the beach, swimming with the kids, paddle boating, reading, and having a fun time. I was too tired (and a little crisy) to hook last night. Hopefully it's just the first of many such weekend this summer....

Week Five: 17.45 square feet

I put my theory of "no stressful and horrible dreams after an evening of hooking" to the test this week. I hooked 6 nights out of 7 – and had great sleeps for each of those nights....but the only night I didn't hook it was awful (and enough to keep me hooking on the remaining nights of the week!)

The rug is starting to get a little cumbersome, and to make it a little easier to shift it on and off the frame (I'm afraid the weight + gravity will cause it to stretch in a weird way, so I lay it on the floor every night), I'm started keeping it rolled more tightly, so that less of it is showing at once. I also switched my strings on the topside to pieces of selvedge, after several of pieces of yarn broke under the strain. So far the selvedge seems to be doing the trick, and I've started using them like handles to move the rug around. It helps.

On Saturday I plotted out the colours for the rest of this side of the centre section. I unrolled the whole previously hooked section so that I could do a better job of balancing out the colours over the whole piece. And then I took a photo. Since I expect it will be a few weeks before I've used up all of the piles, I will be able to refer to it when I need remind myself of the plan...

Week Four: 13.7 square feet

I'm pretty pleased with my progress this week, especially since I didn't hook on Monday, Saturday or Sunday. The summer is always a crazy-busy time for me....work is busiest (and always unpredictable), and when it's nice outside, I want to enjoy the lake and (hopefully soon) camping.

One thing that became clear this week -- and that I had never actually realized to be true for me before -- is just how relaxing and therapeutic rug hooking can be. Usually at this time of year I am completely stressed in the evenings, with the remains of the day, and have all kinds of trouble sleeping. Not this year (fingers crossed!)....I think that the regular evening hooking is really helping me to relax and unwind. I can't complain about that! ;-)

neat trick

I tend to follow rules in most aspects of life, 'cause I really don't like to get into trouble....but rug hooking is one place where I don't always conform. For example, I don't always clip a strip at the end of every row. Instead, I fold the strip on the backside and most often hook with the other side of the strip in the next row.....but sometimes the wrong side is so different, that it's just wrong, and then I twist it around to keep the same side on top. Regardless of which method I'm using to avoid having so many tails, it requires a little finesse so that the first and last loops stand tall and straight.

After hooking so many AMMs, I've almost perfected my technique -- or so I thought. While at the Powassan hook-in a couple of weeks ago, Wendie showed me a neat trick that practically guarantees that the ends of your rows will be straight. It's so simple, I can't believe that I didn't think of it – and noone had shown me – before. Here's what you do...

After you finish hooking on a given row, insert your hook through the last loop hooked before pushing your hook down into the hole to start your next row...


Pull up your first loop of the new row (both loops will be on you hook at once), adjust the height as necessary....and presto -- two perfectly straight loops...and a smoother back, to boot!


A couple of fine-tuning things I've noticed....

• you might want to use a straight hook (not a bent hook) for this trick
• your hook needs to be long enough and fine enough that it doesn't inadvertently pull your last loop higher, while you dig for your first loop
• if your finished loop height is too high, try starting with a shorter last loop
  

MP by OP – Jill's Zippers

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love to see pictures of other people's work -- especially when it's inspired by mine. Wendie posted about her adventures earlier this week....and Jill sent me these pictures over the weekend.

Jill picked out some bags of Crazy Eights at the Annual a month or so ago and has really gone to town to get her runner hooked and finished so quickly. It's approximately 52" by 13"

As usual, I think it looks even better in person than in a photo, but I'm sure you know that, too. The colours are so rich and beautiful. I really am thrilled with how this runner has turned out and it has been a very good exercise in trying to keep my loops at a (relatively) even height!

As you can see, Jill's cat is loving it, too! And why wouldn't he? I think it's beautiful!

Week Three: 10.8 square feet

Wow! I can't believe how quickly it's growing! I've completed about 10% of the overall rug and just over 25% of the centre section. To give you a better idea of the size, I've placed a 100cm (39.5") ruler in the centre of the area.

Despite how it may appear, I am not spending every waking moment hooking away on the Jumbo rug. Some nights I am very productive and get lots accomplished.....and other nights I might not hook at all or hook very little. Even yesterday–despite my best intentions to get a solid day of hooking in–my conscience won in the end and I spent all day taking care of various odds and ends (e-mail, class notes, orders, blog updates, laundry, grocery shopping, etc.) and didn't sit down to start hooking until 6pm!

It amazes me how it keeps changing with new colours being added. It's definitely starting to look a lot more colourful....and I'm also starting to revisit my earlier border ideas. I think I'm going to have to go back to Photoshop to play around a little bit and try out a couple of my new ideas.

making a plan

I had to do my first bit of ripping out this week, and I didn't like it. With my laxidasical approach to colour planning this rug, I managed to run into too many of the same colours quite close together and at least two shapes that looked very similar. With so many colour choices available it amazes me that this can happen -- but when the rug is on my frame, I can see only a small portion of the whole thing.....and it can be hard to remember what is happening beyond the window of my frame.

Since I'm no longer completing one shape before moving onto the next one, organization is beginning to play a major role. Every time I hook a swath across (about 6"), I am hooking about 10 different shapes (each shape is comprised of 4 colours) and starting at least 3 new shapes.

Because I hate to rip out (regardless of what you call it, it's unproductive), I decided I needed to spread out the rug and make a bit of a plan. So yesterday I laid out the rug and started picking and choosing and laying colours on top of one another in the approximate order they will be hooked. I'm also keeping the cut wool in piles on top of the bigger pieces of fabric.


These piles should last for several days....I hope! I will be back tomorrow with a progress report, and you'll be able to see some of these piles hooked into the mat.

more handles

I finally have more Grayson e. handles in stock. There are still a few colours on back order, but here are the colours/styles that I have at the moment......

Single Urban: Grape, Olive, Black, Indigo, Brown ($35 each, $68 for pair)

Long Rolled: Black, Brown, Red, Amber, Buckskin, Green ($46 per pair)

Week Two: 6.75 square feet

I didn't start hooking on Jumbo until Sunday this weekend....but I had a pretty productive day. Despite taking a few days off last week - and having some short nights of hooking - I am happy to report that I'm still on track (3.3 square feet per week).

I've started choosing colours on the fly....and this has met with mixed results. Since it's just soooo big (this centre section will end up being about 63" across, and it's already about 54" across), it's hard to see what colours are around when it's on the frame. I am going to do a little surgery later on the newly started shape on the right (kinda peachy neutral) and replace it with more of a colour.

It's certainly fun to watch it grow -- I just hope that it continues to motivate me to keep going....

Day 8

Real life is happening alongside my rug....so progress has been slow this week. Last night I was out at my nephew's birthday until 9ish, so it was another night of light hooking.

I'm going to start posting Jumbo rug updates on a weekly basis, starting this Monday. These daily reports will soon start getting boring (if not already)....and I missing my regular ramble about other things of note.

I'm off to the hook-in tomorrow in Powassan (sans Jumbo - it's just too big), but hopefully I'll get some hooking time in this weekend. I need to catch up! ;-)

Day 7

Last night was more productive than day 6, but I found I was hooking a little slowly. It wasn't until late in the evening that I identified the problem: no AC. Working under such a large project is a little smothering -- perfect in the wintertime, but horrible in the heat of the summer. But as soon as I turned the air conditioner on, it was like flicking a speed switch inside me -- I was noticeably hooking faster. I think I just might have to pay tribute to Ontario Hydro for enabling me to hook such a large rug -- maybe I could get a discount? ;-)

Day 6

Definitely the least productive night of rug hooking since I started on the rug. Mostly this was due to not arriving home until just after 10pm (and have I told you how much I love my bed before?), but also because I spent some time re-rolling and tying up my rug along both ends. It's definitely much easier to handle now (and I'm hoping this will continue). What I hope won't continue, is accomplishing just a measly 8 square inches in an evening. It's better than nothing, but at this rate it will take me 1,944 nights to finish -- if I hooked only this much every day of the year, it would take over 5 years to finish off this Jumbo rug! yikes!

Day 5

Already at day 5....and no need for popping any loops and replacing colours. Yippee! The awkwardness of the sheer size of the piece has me contemplating other ways of hooking. So far I've been completing one shape at a time....but I think I am soon going to have to switch and hook all the way across the centre section, several inches at a time. It's becoming a real pain to roll and tie every time I move my work on the frame (which is 2-3 times a night). Hopefully I will have the where-with-all tonight to stretch it all out and roll it neatly from both ends. As for keeping track of my wool for each shape, I've already decided to bundle the cut pieces up together with the uncut yardage (four colours together).