My rug hooking guild, the Peconic Ruggers, sponsored a class with rug hooker and braider Kris McDermott. Kris, along with two of her friends, cowrote Combining Rug Hooking & Braiding: Basics, Borders, & Beyond.
She does amazing things with braids, and is an amazing teacher. Her visual aids are great, she arrived completely prepared, and is as nice as she can be.
Kris works with lots of interesting fibers, such as taffeta and banana silk. Look at that sparkly stuff in the rug pictured above! It's great to see someone venturing into new territory.
Kris had us bring two 6 inch hooked pieces to class, one round and one square with an unhooked circle in the center. I hooked some paisley, of course, although I used a 4-cut, instead of my usual 8. I love the way the circle looks, but think there's too much going on in the square piece. I'm going to quiet it down by replacing the three-color braid with a one-color braid so your eye has some place to rest.
These pieces were hooked with my sister Barb's hand dyed wool. This combination is called Moroccan Mosaic. (Contact her at thimblefolk@comcast.net if you are interested. Or thimblefolk.com)
It was a fun way to spend two days -- both jam-packed with information -- our hands were never idle, which is just the way I like! For more photos tootle on over to the Peconic Ruggers.
