Kits are all assembled and ready for Saturday.
Hooking
the show starts next wednesday
I am thrilled to have my work in Arounna and John’s lovely shop for a month. There will be hooked pieces as well as canvas totes and pouches, recycled woollen mittens and a little leather. I hope that you will drop in to see the work. I will be there hooking Saturday October 1st.
getting ready
If you signed up for the hooking workshop I will be giving at Bookhou, please look for an email from me today. I am really looking forward to spending the day, October 15, with you. We will be making a small trivet, but also learning about colour and values. I hope that when you leave you will be ready to rip up your old woollies and make your own creations! Above is one version of the trivet and a small exercise in colour and value.
My show at Bookhou starts next week! More on that and some of the things I’ve been making for the show soon.
dyeing and hooking
For the upcoming hooking workshop, I decided to do a small demo piece of hooked circles, bright in the foreground, dark in behind. Here is the very beginning of it.
Like every other rug hooker, I have a basket of left over wool from many projects. This would be the source of my background.
I took big handfuls of all colours and divided them into three piles: light, medium and dark. I soaked these in synthrapol for about an hour. Then I plunked the dark group in my kitchen kettle with 3/16 blue violet, the medium group with 3/16 teal and the light group with 1/8 turquoise. I cooked each group about 1/2 hour, adding citric acid in the first batch.
And here is the result. Beautiful rich darks and mediums from the first two batches, and highlights of turquoise for the circles. Wool is incredibly resilient. These strips went easily from the dye pot to the rinse cycle of my machine to air drying without getting tangled. Soon they will be hooked into the trivet. Another way to recycle!
rugs travelling to TO
I’m having a show in Toronto, opening September 28. Some of my rugs and other hooked pieces will be there, but also some canvas and recycled woollen things. More details to come, including information about the hooking workshop which is being held in conjunction with the show.
rug inspirations
hooking workshop
On October 15, I will be giving a hooking workshop at Bookhou in Toronto. We will be making a small trivet so I have been experimenting using different colourways. Above you see two samples of the same simple pattern. (The topmost one is Arounna’s lovely photo.) Below is the pattern again, not quite finished, this time with a light background and dark flowers. For fun, I added a wavy ground and a sun. Each time I hook it, something different happens!
Arounna will have all the details posted on her blog before too long. So if you are interested, circle the date!
fireworks update and more
For now Fireworks resides at the cottage. We spent a few wonderful days there this past week and I managed to finish one side of the border. It is a BIG rug. However, sitting by an open window with a view of the water is the best.
There was also time for other activities including picking blueberries which are amazingly abundant this year. While we do eat them now (best with Kawartha Dairy ice cream) I love to freeze them for a taste of summer warmth in the darkness of winter.
molly peacock on craft
Molly Peacock is one of my favourite writers. (www.mollypeacock.org). Check out her biography, Paradise Piece by Piece, and her How to Read a Poem. You won’t be disappointed. Her meditation on craft from her latest book The Paper Garden captures what I think is the magic of creating.
“Craft is engaging. It results in a product. The mind works in a state of meditation in craft, almost the way we half-meditate in physical exercise. There is a marvelously obsessive nature to craft that allows a person to dive down through the ocean of everyday life to a seafloor of meditative making. It is an antidote to what ails you…is a key to understanding one’s personal wealth–and acknowledging that wealth in others, too.” (p.288)
The lovely photo of my hooking basket was taken by my friend, Nora.
new hooking
This is the second in a series of bird chair seats. I began this one at Green Mountain and finished up hooking yesterday. Still must steam and sew on the backing before it can rest on a chair. The glowy bits are dyed nylons and silk ribbon from Jennifer.