This is “Big Boucherouite” all drawn out on linen for Leslie. I can’t wait to see how she makes him come to life.
As I mentioned last week, High on Hooking has started something new: We’re offering patterns to all the rug hookers out there. Truthfully, though, we sold our first pattern last year. It was requested, not on rug backing, but on paper. Someone loved our “WOOF” rug but wanted a couple of personal changes made to it. Happy to do it.
Currently, the pattern for “Big Boucherouite” – in linen or in monk’s cloth – is listed up on the Etsy shop. I recently sent one off to Leslie. If you’re interested, I will draw it upon order to your specifications. It’s too big for paper, though. Feel free to contact me through Etsy or via Laura@highonhooking.com. In fact, most any of my rugs can be made into patterns.
This week we’re finishing up a punched pillow and hemming the recycled bed sheet rug. My hands and wrists are unexcited by both of those activities. And then there’s paperwork covering the dining room table (except where the dust is). On the plus side, we’ve started a new rug. Nothing makes me happier than that. And I see a hike in our near future. Early in the day, though, as summer’s suddenly broken here in the New Mexican high desert. Going into the 90s this week. Time to get Bowyn his pool!
Clearly, Bowyn’s got a ways to go before he can take over for Tynan’s “What’s on the frame.” What is this pattern? But Tynan was distracted and ran off when Tom made noises in the kitchen. What’s a dog to do?
WHAT WILL YOU DO THIS WEEK TO MAKE LIFE A LITTLE LIGHTER?
Show me your hearts; here’s mine. I attached it to my spring door decoration. It was hooked with wool, silk, and silk sari yarns. #heartsforheroes
We’re still looking for those hearts. Tag them #heartsforheroes. If you’re not sure what we’re talking about, click here now. Relatedly, Maggie Bathory at the Aspen Rug Company has a contest HEARTS FOR HOOKERS going on over at her place. Combine our two projects; do good and maybe win some wool!
In other news, I’m still not working particularly efficiently as I’d hoped to back when this all started. If you wish, you can read about that here. The situation wasn’t helped when my kid had health issues that ultimately pushed her into the hospital up in Colorado where she lives…3½ hours away. That was nerve-wracking as Tom and I couldn’t just run up to be with her. Nope, in the end she had to do it all by her lonesome. There have been some hiccups, but her health is safe and she’s back at work…on the frontlines…at a grocery store. (Another plug for #heartsforheroes.)
But I have gotten some things done. Two rugs left the Etsy shop for their forever homes. Yea! Virtual shopping can be as good if not better than going to the store. I know, three pairs of shoes have made it to my house from DSW via the post office. Then there are those two Kohl’s deliveries. Pro Chem and Maritime Family Fiber…
“Sacred Life” now lives in Louisiana with Susan. She and Carolyn are hoping to make a trip to New Mexico late in the year. Pray they get a chance. Till then, this will have to do.
Intrigue: There’s been an ongoing rug “sale” story; really it’s all about a would-be scammer who wanted to take me for about $1000. And get a rug in the deal! That deserves it’s own post. Watch for it in the future.
“Tea for Me” headed up to its Oregon forever home this week! Perfect for a cool spring morning.
Then I sold a pattern of “Big Boucherouite” after someone saw him in Rug Hooking Magazine. Damn, I think that little nugget of information was lost in the coronacootie hubbub. Yep, take a gander in the current – March/April/May – issue. My article starts on page 40. I’m so tickled! Anywho, later this week, I’ll be making that pattern available in linen and monk’s cloth in the Etsy shop. Or just contact me at Laura@highonhooking.com if you’re interested in one. Or in any other rug that I’ve hooked, for that matter. Most can be easily drawn.
You know, I’ve had short stories printed and even rugs in the ATHA Magazine, but what a gas to have my own article and artwork in Rug Hooking Magazine!
This was part of the process when I drew the “Big Boucherouite” pattern for Leslie. Thank goodness for a large area on tile, and even more, doors to keep the dogs at bay.
Ribbon Rug Journal entry, April 12: “Easter, 2020” or “Easter, Corona Style.” Hopefully, the Easter Bunny didn’t catch the coronacootie when he delivered the eggs and candy.
Like I said in an earlier post, the Ribbon Rug Journal takes up more of my hooking time than I anticipated. I guess that’s not such a problem this year though. Sadly, so many vending and other in-person events are cancelled that I have time to spend on a big project like this one. Just the other day I finished the first roll of burlap ribbon. The new roll is a tad more difficult to work with as its weave is much looser. Danger, Will Robinson! It’s also wider which is a mixed blessing. There’s more space to hook, but showing any kind of detail is a no-go.
Other than that, there’s lots of cooking and eating and drinking going on in the Salamy house. We’re still really well stocked up. The boys keep us walking most days, thank goodness. It’s safer that way, otherwise the Wild Child (aka Bowyn) gets himself into much too much mischief. He took out a skein of rug yarn within five minutes of it being in the house. Snaked his little paw right through the doggie gate to snag it! I have managed to give them both haircuts, not that I’ll be accomplished enough to hang out a groomer’s shingle when this whole pandemic crisis is over. But I can now wield a pair of clippers and cut toenails. I call that a victory.
A FIRST! Tynan allowed Bowyn to share his “What’s on the frame” duty this week. (It all fell apart after I snapped the pic.) I’ll hook the last bit of this cheery, recycled bed sheet rug tonight. Then it joins a finishing queue along with a punched pillow.
I’m still interested in what you’re hooking up or even cooking up this Covid-19 “vacation.” Tell us about it below. Better yet, show us on the High on Hooking Facebook page. And get those hearts up on your front windows and doors. Share your love and gratitude with the heroes showing up at your house with yarn and shoes and food and…
The Japanese Amabie is a mythical creature with a message to defeat the coronavirus: “Good harvest will continue for six years from the current year; if disease spreads, show a picture of me to those who fall ill and they will be cured.” Coronavirus, take that! Read more about the Amabie here.
Like you, it appears that I have a little time on my hands. So much has changed EVERYWHERE ALL OVER THE WORLD since my last post. It boggles the mind. Or, like my daughter put it, “I really can’t process this.”
Luckily, the governor here in New Mexico was on the stick and started closing things down pretty early, before we had but a few cases of COVID-19. And we have a less dense population than larger metropolitan areas in the country, especially on the coasts. Even more fortuitously, Tom and I saw the writing on the wall and started hoarding toilet paper laying in supplies before the stores were mobbed. Best of all, I managed to get my hair cut the day before we pretty much closed down town. Score! (If you saw how I mangled my toenails a couple of days earlier, you’d appreciate this better.)
The reality is that our home is a pretty comfy place to be confined to. Not that we’re truly confined. We regularly walk in the bosque, the woods running along the Rio Grande near here. Trips to Walmart and Sprouts and even Costco aren’t forbidden, though I fear they’ll become more and more dicey as Albuquerque creeps closer to our peak viral load come the end of April. We have a freezer full of meat and frozen veggies, plenty of wine and olive oil (the latter being the original reason for our Costco membership; the former being an awesome benefit), a treadmill and bike, LOTS of dog food, books galore, and subscriptions to both Prime and Netflix. Best of all, both Tom and I are starting out healthy. That can’t be understated. Oh, and we even still like each other more than two weeks into social distancing from all other people.
Since the Amabie wants all artists to draw a picture of it, I provided a hooked version. It’s the March 19 entry to my Ribbon Rug Journal.
But I do miss my friends and the activities that keep me running around like rug hooking demos in the BioPark, guildmeetings, time working with Susan’s Legacy, teaching, visiting and lunches out… This week’s excursions out of the house: 1) Walmart for longer term provisions and 2) the blood bank. If you can donate, call your local blood center or hospital; donations are desperately needed everywhere!
Truthfully, I’m glad to have this gift of time. Even though I don’t work-work any more, I have responsibilities that keep me engaged in the community at large. Frankly sometimes they feel overwhelming. Probably because I don’t work-work, parent full time, and do all that other stuff at the same time. My efficiency and tolerance are out of practice. A couple of weeks ago, when this all started, I thought, yes!, I can do all the things I’ve been putting off. I can spring clean and re-organize the cupboards and pantry. I can clear out the piles. Have I? Not at all. Although, in an initial burst of energy and enthusiasm, I did clean the master closet (containing clothes and
I did manage to finish punching “Desert Sun.” The frame is a recycled basket plate holder. Find it on our Etsy shop.
hooking supplies) and adjoining laundry room. That’s it. Turns out I haven’t even hooked as much as I normally would. Though most of my hooking gets done in the evening, I typically day-hook a couple of times a week with guild-mates and friends. Yeah, one afternoon of day-hooking all lock-down. I didn’t think my efficiency could be any lower, but without due dates and such…free fall.
Vending and teaching events are all cancelled. Who knows when we’ll be able to reschedule? Venues like the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center, already in a precarious financial situation, may even fail. If you love NMFAC, old EVFAC, like me, donate to it. You probably have your own favorite organizations; support them before you lose them.
Things look kind of bleak, but they have in the past too. Live in the moment and do the things you’ve been putting off. Call a relative stuck at home alone. Talk to an old friend. I did that yesterday for over an hour. Where else did I have to be? It felt great catching up. Make things, anything: a rug, a shawl, a short story, a cake, a garden. We all know that when we’re creative, our mental health improves.
Tynan gives you this weeks “Whats on the frame.” We’re hooking with old bed sheets again. Show us what’s on your frame. Or your easel or your hoop or your page. (Meanwhile he’s trying to impress on little brother Bowyn that it’s a major sin to even look at a toilet paper roll with lust in his heart.)
To conclude, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to show us what you are making these days. Maybe you’ll provide a little inspiration to someone who needs it. I want to see a bunch of photos on the High on Hooking Facebook page. Or email them to Laura@highonhooking.com; I’ll share them. And let us know how you and yours are doing. Spouses, partners, kids, grand-kids, and pets. Love the pets! Use the gift of time to stay home, stay busy, and stay healthy!
What’s on the frame: Here’s the new punch needle rug hooking project, just one of too many things she has going on these days. And that doesn’t even include training you-know-who.
Tynan here. She’s given me a little access. It’s only fitting as she took the little sh__ Bowyn for a walk this afternoon and neglected me. That was after they played keep-the-frisbee from Tynan. Junior likes to show off how fast he can run away from me after he rubs the damn toy on my back. Piss ant!
Anyway, here’s the new project the mistress is working on. She started it for the punch needle rug hooking class she’s teaching up in Santa Fe tomorrow; it’s a demonstration piece. One day to become a pillow. That is, if she can ever finish the old projects. I think that between the punching, hooking, crochet, and embroidery, she’s got at least four in the fire. And all over the house! Oh and, Ruth, my dear friend Ruth, she hasn’t even touched that miniature punch needle project since the day you taught it to her. (But you didn’t hear that from me.)
I hope you all have a good weekend. Maybe you’d enjoy it more if you invited a certain 10-month old Welsh Springer spaniel to spend it with you. I know I would.
Your ever suffering,
Tynan
PS – The classat the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center still has one or two openings if you’re interested. You can call or walk in. It starts at 10:00 tomorrow morning.
Here in Albuquerque, we’re hemming, hooking, and punching, oh my!
The hemming part of hemming, and hooking, and sewing, oh my!
HEMMING
The secret project is almost done. The hooking’s complete, but there’s a LOT of hemming to be done, rug binding to be sewn down. It’s been taking a LOT of my time. But if I can finish that and figure how to hang it, I think that I’ll enter it into a fiber show up in Santa Fe to run during the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (formerly Española Valley Fiber Arts Center) Fiber Crawl in May. Check out the info whether you’d like to be a participant or would prefer to check out the festivities this year.
HOOKING Cathyand I have one more evening in Santa Fe as artists in residence at the Inn on the Alameda. There’s not been all that much action, but we usually get in a few good chats with a guest or two. Two weeks ago we met a group of ladies who came from all over the US to take a workshop that would teach them how to make clothes from the cloth that they’d woven back at home. They were really into the tactile nature of our hooked rugs. One woman had inherited hooking paraphernalia from a relative and got all hyped visiting us. Another loved the idea of using used clothing, especially t-shirts, and wants to give hooking a try. Alas, she isn’t from here, so she’ll have to find a teacher on her own.
Meanwhile, Friday, a friend of a LeeAnne, an AWAG guild mate of mine, came here for an intro lesson Friday. (Bowyn was a BEAR, wanting desperately to become her new best friend. Ideas of what to do with a dog when you teach in your home? Till he’s trained, that is.) Barbara came last week so that she could attend AWAG’s first hooking retreat of the new year. If you’re in the area of Hope Church on Juan Tabo in Albuquerque Wednesday or Friday, 10-3, we cordially invite you to stop by. If hooking’s your thing, bring that. Knitting, embroidery, whatever, we’re happy to have you. (FYI, Thursday, we’ll be holding an in-guild miniature punch needle class, so our hospitality will be “compromised.”)
Tynan brings you this post’s “what’s on the frame”!
Lastly, as you can see in the photo, Tynan brings you this week’s “what’s on the frame.” It’s a cheery and color-full rug that I’m hooking with old woven bed sheets. Unlike other on-going projects, it’s highly portable. Each evening, too, I hook my daily entry on the ribbon rug journal. More on that next time.
Come punch with me in Santa Fe on February 29.
PUNCHING
And lest anyone forget, Saturday, February 29, I host my first Intro to Punch Needle Rug Hooking class up in Santa Fe, in the New Mexico Fiber Center’s new shop. It opened back in November. Most exciting, doing a class in Santa Fe instead of Española cuts my commute by a full 30 minutes! If you haven’t been there, make sure you make a trip. It’s cute and carries more finished goods than the Española headquarters. And if you’d like to try punching à la Amy Oxford, sign up ASAP. If you can’t make that class, contact me about a class in my home or even yours.
My other two boys, Tom and Bowyn. Like most days in New Mexico, Saturday was sunny, so the four of us piled in the car went off on a jaunt. Have you done any good walks and hikes lately?
Okay, things could be a lot worse. Hemming, hooking, and punching are all better than working in an office or shoveling snow or even having a mammogram or dental work. Frankly, they’re better than teaching Bowyn over and over how to be a good canine citizen. He’s stubborn and more than a little crazy, that one. But you have to love him. Or at least Tom and I have to. WHAT ARE YOU UP TO THIS WINTER DAY?
