Re-hooked Santa Noel Rug

Hi everyone... well I did it. I pulled the coffee dyed wool out and hooked it with the original natural colored wool. Talk about anal!!! But I like it much better and so does my husband. It's going in our living room so that's what matters.

Here is the coffee stained version...

I don't think it shows in the pic but the red dye in the berries wasn't color fast and it bled onto the white when it was so wet from the coffee. It was a recycled womens suit and I have never even thought about factory dyed wool being color fast. As I said, this has been a very good learning rug!!!

1. Don't try to dye the wool after hooking.

2. Test the wool for color fastness. I guess you would just put it in hot water and see if it bleeds. But pretty much all garment wool is not made to be washed so it probably won't hold the color without bleeding at least a little. Or maybe put it in simmering water and setting the color with vinegar or citric acid.

But I DID learn that you can hook with roving and other unusual wools. I love his beard and hat.

OK here it is re-hooked with the white background...

Here is the wool yarn I used for the beard. I got it at a garage sale! Two big balls of it. Patti said it's called thick and thin.

A friend has asked me to draw her house so she can hook it. It may be too complicated to hook. I tend to get too technical when drawing and lose the primitive aspect of the subject. I should have asked my seven year old niece to draw it for us! But I think if she can hook it, it will look neat.

Then tomorrow I'm going to finish the drawing of a rug for my DH for Christmas. I was going to draw a bass boat in the lake with a guy in a ballcap in the front of the boat. But he sold his boat last summer partly because I just can't ride in a boat anymore. The pounding of the waves and water made my butt and back hurt sooo bad it got to where I couldn't go with him any more. So I've decided to have him standing in the river fishing. He loves to do that and really likes to do it by himself he says. That way he won't have to look at his boat every day. I'm making it to go in front of his chest of drawers. I want to put in the quote, " Not all who wander are lost". by JR Tolken. It seems so appropriate for fishing alone. I know he will love it whatever the subject. He's really into this rug hooking thing too!

I have ordered some wool yarn and roving from Deanne Fitzpatrick. I ordered a tan, medium and light brown I think will work well for the river banks. Then I also ordered orange, pink and red for the sunset but not sure I will use it until I actually see the colors. There just isn't that much color on the river.....alot of greens and tan. In photographs the water looks black so I really don't know what I'll do yet. I just pick my colors as I go. I don't really ever color plan a rug at the beginning. So I may make the sky real subdued or if you know me, I'll have to brighten it up!! I'm sure this will be my most challenging of all the rugs I've done. I'll keep you informed with pictures as I go.

Bye for now.

One wonders what would happen in a society in which there were no rules to break.

Doubtless everyone would quickly die of boredom.

Susan Howatch b. 1940 British writer

Peace,

Sheri