For all those who’ve been watching my Instagram account and wondering, I’m finally getting around to talking Ribbon Rug Journal. What’s the old adage? That you can make anything a habit if you do it for 21 days? I’ve managed to keep up with it for over two months – that’s 70 days! – so chances are good that I’ll make it farther. And by creating a whole blog post about the damn thing, I’ve got further accountability (read that as digging myself further into a hole). I think. Maybe.

For those of you who are wondering what the hell I’m talking about, a picture is worth a thousand words. And the first pic shown above is the entire Ribbon Rug Journal thus far. See, I’ve had a few rolls of burlap ribbon hanging around the house for a years. I wanted to do something “hooking” with them, maybe make a Christmas banner or something despite the fact that I’m loathe to hook Christmas anything.

One day in December I was showering (that’s important; the shower is where I do all my best thinking) and could see through the glass shower door into the closet where I keep a bunch of my fiber stuff. Including sed burlap ribbon rolls up on a high shelf. Suddenly it comes to me: hook a little something every day into the burlap ribbon, you know, kind of Jack Kerouac-esque. But I wouldn’t write or type my “journal,” I’d hook it.

 

 

 

You come up with a GREAT idea and you run with it. You don’t really think about:

• What every day of a whole year means (when even posting to a blog once a week has become too demanding);
• What if you have to travel?;
• Your days are often already much too filled with other stuff;
• Burlap ribbon might not be the best backing to hook on;
• You might actually get sick of the project;
• You’ve already got how many other projects going?;
• And so on; you get the drift.

And yet, “she” persisted. I’m not actually sick of the project, so that’s good. Very good, in fact. Some folks suggested I limit it to a month rather than a year, or maybe hook monthly entries, but I decided to stick with the original idea. I don’t know why. I don’t even know why I felt a need to add an extra project to my life!

I am abiding by a few rules:

1. Each space measures approximately 2.5″x3″.
2. Other than perhaps purchasing more burlap ribbon, I have to use whatever I have on hand to hook each day. It is permissible to steal materials from anyone who might be with me when I’m hooking the ribbon rug journal.
3. Ideally, each entry should have something to do with my day. But if I’m desperate, you might see a “quilt square” of worms. You try coming up with something every single freaking day.
4. I am allowed to incorporate other fiber techniques if I choose (and feel up to it).
5. I must keep scrupulous documentation of each day’s entry (beyond what I put on Instagram.  I keep a notebook.

 

There are evenings that I suddenly remember I have to hook the day’s entry (the horror!), but so far so good. However, I have learned a few things.

• It can take a LOT longer to hook each day’s journal entry than I anticipated. (I am soooo behind on many other “real” projects.) First I have to come up with something that interests me and that can physically be hooked into the damn ribbon. Each space is about 2″x3″ so details must be limited. I generally draw it in with the Sharpie.
• My ideas don’t always pan out once they’re hooked. Like that quail the other night. He didn’t even get an eye! Maybe if I used the trick whereby you look at your work from a distance… But no, without my title and explanation, you’d have had no idea it was even a bird.
• Nonetheless, I’ve taken to looking at my entries as sketches. And sketches aren’t made to be erased. They’re for learning. So, I’ve rarely pulled an entry out. (Who wants to start over after an hour when an actual rug is waiting to be hooked???)
• Drinking and hooking in tiny spaces can be…unfortunate. Back in January Tom and I had a great bottle of wine on our anniversary. There was shrimp cocktail. There might have even been wine before the wine. But after the festivities…there was the Ribbon Rug Journal.
• Every night there is the Ribbon Rug Journal. If I blow it off one evening, it will just multiply to two Ribbon Rug Journal entries. That would be more unfortunate than sub-par inebriated hooking. It’s better to suck it up and complete the exercise daily. No being lazy.
• Burlap does indeed suck to work with. I’ve even got a regular hashtag #burlapsuckstoworkwith. In the case of the ribbon, it’s the threads perpendicular and attached to the edges that break. Then you get holes. I’ve had to wrap yarn and strips and whatever I’m hooking with around the edge just to keep the whole day from falling out.
• Yarn works best! Yarn thinner than rug yarn, though I can get the latter and a #6 strip through the backing if I stay away

  

  from the ribbon’s edge. Which I don’t always do because of the day’s design. Also, being fond of alternative fibers in my regular hooking, I continue to use them here: ribbon, teabag paper, kitchen string, plastic bags, etc. I look forward to whatever else I might try.

• People are really getting into the Ribbon Rug Journal. I’ve even had requests. @Vickisuestone of Instagram asked for a ladybug last week. I could do that, and I did. Melinda and I were carpooling and stuck in traffic last month. She suggested the night’s entry be a car in traffic. I hooked my little red car. No room for the traffic. But I’m so happy people are responding favorably to what has the potential to become my personal hell.

 

So, that’s the deal with the Ribbon Rug Journal. If you haven’t seen it, you can find each installment on my Instagram account, as I mentioned, and on my Facebook pages, my own and High on Hooking’s. If you have any ideas for me, I’m happy to hear them. It would help if you sent wine too. (Alcohol kills germs, right?)