Rug Hooking Again

When I went to France last week to meet my new grandson, my first grandson, I decided not to take my rug hooking with me. My decision was a practical one. I wanted to travel light, with just a little backpack. I was having so much fun with my daughter, her husband and their baby, that I barely had time to miss my roosting hen project.

I was so glad though when I came home to get re-acquainted with my project, and to return to my routine of hooking in the early morning hours.

I have made some progress. The little hens are now sleeping in their night blue "sheets".

Flowers have started growing around them, each a little different.

Night is spreading around the flowers. I just love playing with my married over-dyed "night" fabrics.

The branches are growing, adding movement and at the same time continuity as I am using only one type of textured wool, a brown and white herringbone.

A demain!

The Hen Rug is Started!

Every Wednesday, I take my daughter to chorus. Yesterday was not like any other Wednesday, yesterday was the day I started hooking my new rug while waiting for her.
I packed my new lap frame (which my lovely husband made for me, I will tell you more about it another time.) I took all my hand cut wool strips that I had dyed for the project. We took the bus, then walked, and I dropped her there. I headed to the local cafe, ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin, and sat down to hook.

I started by hooking a heart, seeing what I could do with my muted jewel tones. See, I had an idea that I wanted the colors to look like they were bright and rich colors but as they would appear at night, being lightly moon kissed. After all, chickens roost at night!

This night idea really came to me yesterday morning as I was looking at the colors, and wondering what I was going to do for the background. At first I considered a safe neutral, but safety is not my thing. I thought a grey could work, and was about to settle on that, when the idea of the night blue came to me. As always, impulsive, I pulled my dye pot out, grabbed some recycled vintage wool fabrics, in light grey, greying celadon, and even a plaid in navy and white, mixed a little bit of "night blue" , and over-dyed the fabrics.
I ended up with some variations of married night blues, some a little bluer, some a little more teal, and some almost black, and some grey blue. I have started playing with the background already. I am so happy with it!  

In my little Rhode Island Red's world, it is night time!

I am really enjoying working with the hand-cut strips, their slight variations in width really add a dynamic feeling to the rug, and maybe also a more authentic appearance. I just love the naive charm of this rug! I really hope I will have some time today to rug hook!

The Magic of Colors

Yesterday, I hand-dyed some woolens. I started with a cream base from a recycled skirt. I had RIT dyes at home. My goal was to create bright colored wool for my heart design, Kalon.

I plan on using the hand-dyeds in the circular shapes. I placed the wetted fabric on plastic wrap, and applied the colors. I then rolled the fabric into a  burrito and cooked it in the microwave for 5 minutes. I have no precise records. I just mix the colors as I go.

I created this piece using wines, reds, yellows, peach, and a touch of aqua. The close-up shows the aqua a little better.

I dyed a`second piece with more reds and still the magical aqua.

And then a section with navy blue, and muted purples.

They all look so wonderful together!

 I still have some work to do on the Moshimer rug, so I might just draw the Kalon design on my linen, and precut strips today. It will be hard to resist pulling a few loops!

I hope you will try to dye some woolens too. There is something magical about how the colors come together in a piece of wool.