Lesson: Hook a bit here, then a bit there

I'll be away from the rug hooking frame while I clear out some backlogged paperwork to get ready to do the dreaded taxes. It used to take a day or so to get things ready but with the business, it seems to take forever. I have decided to hit it hard and get it done.While clearing off my hard drive, I found this photo. It is a bit dark, but it is a perfect example of how I hook all over the

Use and Abuse of Hand Hooked Rug

I use my hand hooked rugs as rugs. It is remarkable how well they hold up. Wool is one of the very best fibers for rugs. It does not accumulate dirt and because I hook on rug warp, my rugs can take what my animals dish out. Watch the movie below to see what I mean. Luckily, Jack has never damaged shoes. He prefers the shoe laces, but leaves the shoes alone. When he gets excited,

Day 442 Center DONE. . . well, almost

I "finished" the center this morning. It is not not completely done because I need to check for holidays. This means that I will inspect the back of the rug and look for larger than normal spaces where I did not hook. They are easy to see on the back but impossible to see on the front.Some of the early books I read suggested using toothpicks to mark the holes. I found that technique almost

Day 441 Wool Sale Status

The wool sale on my website is going well. Thank you to everyone who has placed an order. One of the wools is sold out, but there is plenty. Go to my website for phone and email information. I plan to update the site immediately after each order, so you can see the status of each one right away.The wool is normally $22.00 a yard, but until January 18 will be only $18.00. Shipping is a

Day 440 Almost done with center

Yesterday I taught a class at the Black Swamp Quilt Shoppe. I took the room-sized rug with me and took the picture there. After working this morning, I have most of the area to the left of the center finished.

Day 436 Organization

Yesterday we heard that my husband will be getting a month long layoff over the holidays. Stress always makes me antsy. The side effect is that my home gets deep cleaned and organized. Creativity goes straight out the window.When I got the call I was hooking so the table next to me was the first to feel the frenzy. I was frustrated by having to dig to find just the right green I needed to

Day 425 Thanksgiving weekend, some progress

The dog on the rug is my son's dog, Mickey. They were visiting over the holiday. Bob and his girlfriend, Amanda, live in NYC. It was great to see them. Since I was showing off the rug it was a good time to take a picture.It has been over a month since my last post. I thought I would be able to show you a finished center after just one full week. I was only able to squeeze out a few days so

Sauder Village

The rug retreat at Sauder Village in Archbold, OH was another great week. This is a picture of my classroom. I am supposed to be sitting in the corner of the room between Pam and Jan who are hard at work. I just had to get closer to the wool table to be sure I did not miss something so I took a picture while I was over there. My teacher was Anita White and I used the week to work with

Ready for Sauder Village!

I finalized the pattern I will hook at Sauder Village. Sorry for the words plastered across the pattern, but this pattern is for sale and will be on Spruce Ridge Studio's website soon. It is called "Antique Rose Basket." The colors will be similar to my room-sized rug. I'll continue to hook with these colors and shapes until I get them out of my system. One difference is that the scroll

To dye or not to dye.

I found this in my drafts. It was never posted.I received a question and thought I would answer it in a new post.I am a newbie to rug hooking, and have a slightly silly question. Do you buy undyed wool? Or do you over dye? New rug hookers are often frustrated when their rugs do not look the way they want them to. As with any art or craft, your work is only as good as the materials you use to

Day 275 Progress on border and scroll

The Manistee camp was great fun. I love the area. The lakes (Portage and Michigan) are beautiful and I cannot get enough. Wets my appetite for September in New Jersey at Cape May. Walking the beach before and after rug camp is a bit of heaven.It seems impossible, but my last important post for this rug was Day 99. That was when I first tried the circle border. I hooked a bit on the main part of

Greetings from Manistee, MI

This week I am in Manistee Michigan at the 8th annual Manistee Rug School. The camp has moved to a new location at the new high school and we have all the room we need. My classroom is on a corner with a wide hallway just outside the door. I can spread out the room-sized rug there and really see it. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it here. I hooked a bit more of the circle border

Alaina helps me dye again

Here is Ally helping my get ready to dye today. The bottom picture is of Ally several years ago when she helped me test my dye book colors. Notice the difference in her height. She is officially taller than me.

Hooked Purse Progress

I spent last week at Southern McGown Teachers' Workshop. Rubbing elbows with all those teachers really gets the creative juices flowing.My sewing machine broke so I tried to sew the lining together by hand. I took the supplies with me to workshop and would have been able to use the purse if the lining was a better design. I have the purse together and love the shape.The handles were attached

Rug Hooked Purse

I haven't hooked much on the large rug. Instead I have been messing with the computer. Some good and some bad, such as reformatting and troubleshooting problems.A few days ago I decided I wanted a new purse to take with me to Teachers' Workshop. I knew what shape I wanted, but I was struggling with the design. I wanted to include the new rose motif that I have been using in my current rug

New Website Name! cindigayrughooking.com

Thank you to everyone who emailed their opinions on the website name. A special thanks to Sunnie Andress of sunnieandressdesigns.com. The majority of you thought my name was an important part of the website name. Sunnie suggested www.cindigayrughooking.com. Perfect!I purchased that name AND www.cindygayrughooking.com. I am now back to a name that reflects who I am, what the site is about and

I need to rename my website, please vote.

In November I had a billing mix up with my web host. As a result, I lost the rights to www.cindygay.com (Cindi with a y). My website is still OK because I use www.cindigay.com (with two i's). Before I realized what happened, a porno site picked up my name. Just a day or so later, I saw an article on the Internet about how this is happening quite often. I haven't had the courage to visit the

Day 99. I am settled into the circle border with one exception. Do I want to hook multi-colored spots in between the circles, or do I want to keep that feature consistent? I have already ruled out hooking all the background black. I like the way the extra spots almost camouflage the circles. Hooking an all black background made the circles stand out too much.As you can see I started on the

How easily we forget!

My focus for the last two years has been to "get crooked." I thought I had made a breakthrough with Karen Kahle at Sauder Village in 2006. I was working on her Antique Rose Runner during the lunch break. All the other students were off eating and I was so excited about what and how I was hooking that I decided to work through lunch.A woman came into the classroom to see what we were

Border progress-Cat's paw

I have always loved the Cat's Paw rugs. I wanted to include this design in one of the minor borders, but I was afraid that it would look too modern. I decided to hook up a section. It looks great. Do you agree? I decided to make the background the darkest background value that I am using to outline the motifs in the center of the rug.This test proves that what looks bad (or good) on paper