Archive -- February 2006

Apologies
February 28th, 2006 / News / No comments
My sister just told me my photographs are way too big when viewed on Internet Explorer. I use Mozilla Firefox, which automatically resizes the pics, so I didn’t realize I had a problem. I thought I knew how to fix it, but I havn’t conquered it yet. So — my apologies to those of you viewing the site on IE. I’ll try to have the problem fixed soon. (Get Firefox, it is much smarter!)


Scrumbling
February 26th, 2006 / News, Suppliers and Teachers, Peconic Ruggers / No comments
I have discovered scrumbling! When I began thinking about blogging, my neighbor Valerie (an accomplished crocheter whose husband Seth is my computer savior) sent me links to several knitting and crocheting blogs. I ended up on a site authored by an Australian woman named Prudence Mapstone — knotjustknitting.com — and I’ve been captivated by it ever since. I love her use of color and the organic look her objects take on. Another site — Sylvia Cosh James Walter Crochet defines scrumbling as “making freeform random patchwork pieces to be joined into a continuos, textured fabric.” Why not apply this same idea to rug hooking? Who needs a pattern? Why not grab a handful of wool and start hooking and see where it goes? So last weekend I started a purse, just following my instincts and letting my hook ramble — I mean scrumble. (I love that word.) It’s too cold to go out to the studio and take a picture of it right now, but I’ll try to get to it tomorrow.
Today I realized I’d already scrumbled a purse. The Peconic Ruggers hired Abby Vakay to lead a workshop on hooking with unusual materials a few years ago. Abby showed us the basics of needlefelting and how to apply it to rug hooking, along with appliqueing, stuffing embellishing and probably a dozen other techniques. I only finished a 4 inch circle during the class, but I was so excited by the possibilities that I went home and finished the purse the next day. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Now I’m thinking about scrumbling a rug . . .


Braiding Frustrations
February 3rd, 2006 / News, Suppliers and Teachers / No comments
So — I decided to finish a small rug with a single braid on the edge. Did great all the way to the end — got the corners right, didn’t sew it on too tight — then I get to the end and I can’t finish it off so that it looks good. I was cursing a blue streak, mad all over again that I had to spend 2 days hooking in Halifax so the teacher sould make money on wool and patterns when I could have been learning the tricks of braiding. I went to the fairly new book The Secrets of Finishing Hooked Rugs by Margaret Siano, which is a great book, but I couldn’t get her instructions to work for me. I just fudged it and it looks okay. But I am in the market for a class on braiding around hooked rugs that teaches every possible thing I could need to know: butting ends, two color braiding verses three colored and FINISHING so it looks seamless.
Here’s a photo of the finished mat. I think it is easy to spot the end, unfortunately.