Our new “raised gardening beds.” Water goes down the PVC pipe from the hose and collects below the soil in each tub. From there it “wicks up” and reduces the need for daily manual watering. In theory, that’s how it works. We shall see.
Gardening, rug hooking in Albuquerque – what’s old is new again for us here in Albuquerque. At least for Tom and me.
First the gardening. In Massachusetts, planting didn’t happen till mid-May, even early June some years. Not here. Pansies started in late February, and this week we were at Lowes buying herbs and flowers. Today we started planting. Forget the garden bed in the middle of the yard or digging into the soil, though. Instead of dirt, our yard is basically hard-packed sand. So Tom did some – pardon the pun – digging online and came up with these contraptions on the left.
Given how dry it is here in the high desert, they’re supposed to help with watering too. Next week, we’ll pick up a large horse trough and tomato plants. Back east we used to do yard work on automatic pilot. Here it’s gardening 101 all over again.
New mat made out of old bed sheets.
Then there’s my newest rug, one I previewed a few weeks ago in the Experimenting post. I’m just finishing it up now – whip stitching, of course. (From last week’s post, you know how much I love doing that.) The fun thing about this mat is that it’s hooked completely out of bed sheets on a latch hook background. It came out nice and fluffy. Perfect, perhaps, for a bathroom. Already, I’ve been out collecting more sheets at my local Savers so I can start a new one.
I’m so excited to be giving new lives to old linens and clothes. Recycling, upcycling, whatever you choose to call it, keeps stuff out of landfills and looks pretty fine as well.
Whip stitching along the backside of the bed sheet rug.
Many hookers have branched out to alternative fibers these days, if only to add texture and other layers of interest to their rugs. Please post pics of your experiments on High on Hooking’s Facebook page.
Experimenting. I’ve got plenty to do this week, still I find myself trying something new. Last
Rug hooking with old sheets. My new Anderson frame came in handy as the backing is so stiff.
Thursday, I started a new rug. One on latch hook backing. Made out of old sheets. This re-cycling – or the more virtuous sounding “up-cycling” – thing has really grabbed me. I’m hoping it’ll grab buyers too when I start selling at the Rail Yard Market in June. Rag rugs are in vogue these days, you know.
Experimenting with old bed sheets. The loops pull smoothly and give a “fluffy” look.
I’ve included a couple of pics to show how it’s going. The design is simple, paisley-like, as I needed to see how the sheets would hook up before I went crazy. The strips are about a half-inch wide. No need for real precision here. Savers (a used goods store that I frequent) provided the sheets. I’m hoping to find brighter colors next time, though these are fairly desert-esque. That’s fitting for here in Albuquerque.
The desert colors will work nicely in a bedroom or bath.
I’ve sleeved and handed over “Ribbons Over Albuquerque” to the “Colors of the Southwest” fiber arts exhibit. It runs this weekend at the Garden Center (in itself a very cool place to visit) here in town. I’m looking forward to the show’s opening Friday evening along with the artists’ reception. Saturday, I’ve been tasked with demonstrating. That means that I need to get on the stick and finish prepping my next piece. (I figured I’d show them rug hooking in its more traditional form, so I’m leaving the sheets at home. And using t-shirts. 😉 ) Because I sew my binding on before I hook, there’s a needle and some thread in my immediate future.
Before I head back to that mat, though, I need a favor. Yesterday I created a Facebook page for my Adobe Wool Arts guild here in Albuquerque. It’ll let us share what’s going on in the guild as well as communicate with all the hookers out there in cyberspace. If you’d be so kind as to give us a looksie at https://www.facebook.com/AdobeWoolArts/, we’d be ever so grateful. Feel free to comment, share, educate, whatever. And then LIKE us. We love meeting new friends.
How much experimenting do you do when you hook?
The official rug of the Adobe Wool Arts guild here in Albuquerque. Our Facebook page only shows a tiny part of it. Wish I’d gotten here in time to help hook it.
Hooking with wool strips. (Yes, the outline is rug yarn.)
To continue on from the “discomforts” of two weeks ago, “Working a little beyond my comfort level,” I’ve decided to hook with wool strips. Admit it; your first thought is: “How in God’s name can that be at all difficult?” Well, here’s the thing, I can’t remember the last time I made a rug or mat out of wool strips. At least primarily out of wool strips; I often mix them in with the yarn and t-shirt strips, and ribbons and other fibers I tend to favor.
It doesn’t sound like a problem, but it does require that I change my technique some. First of all, punching made me a “packer.” I like a heavy, dense mat. It’s particularly helpful when I use t-shirt. No one wants a flabby rug for the floor or the table or the wall. Now, too, I have to pay attention to my loops. Do they stand up for themselves? Are they too crowded? Worse, tomorrow I have my monthly guild meeting. Everyone uses wool strips. I can’t help but compare mine to theirs. Mary and Linda are so meticulous with their loops; their rugs look… professional. Mine? Not so much.
This brings up another “discomfort.” Strip width. Linda generously offered to lend me her extra Bliss cutter a few months ago. Currently, I don’t own one, never have. I’ve cut by hand all these years. Because I initially used mostly yarn and then other fibers, this was no big deal. You can’t cut t-shirt with a cutter. But, hey, I like to branch out as much as the next gal. So, I’ve been cutting wool strips; they’re all (mostly) of equal width for this little rug – 6s.
My “poppies,” made back in, maybe, 2011. Other than some black rug yarn and some silk and cotton (the pink and orange running through the petals), it’s hooked in all wool strips.
Sounds good, but now I’m feeling more pressure when I look at Mary’s and Linda’s rugs. Such uniformity with all those same-size strips. And they have technique to match them. (And design and color sense.) Yeah, I don’t. In fact, you could say my uniformity is wholly in my non-uniformity. I could hide that some in the past when I cut my strips with scissors. Besides a sore hand, I’d have variable strips that lent an air of…eccentricity. Like your crazy, old great aunt, the one you love to death but can’t exactly say why beyond how she always wears bright colors like scarlet and teal and magenta.
There’s no hiding with the Bliss-cut wool strips. But it’s a challenge, and, like I said, I need to stretch a little. Besides, it’s only a little mat, about 8″x8″. I can handle that. And if I’m having problems, I have Linda and Mary and Mary and Nancy and all the others to help me out. That’s one of the benefits of belonging to a guild, a class, or even a couple sitting together on the porch hooking, chatting, and eating. (Someone commented on Facebook recently how much we hookers love to eat.) We’re there for one another.
There are many more tiny mats in my immediate future. Last week I received word that I’d been juried into Albuquerque’s Rail Yard Market. Not sure if we’ll sell much and how many Sundays I’m scheduled for, but there’s a lot of traffic, and it’s just a fun place to be. More about this later.
What hangs you up in rug hooking? Hooking perfect lines of perfect wool strips like me? Packing too tightly (note that I do not consider this a hang-up). Loop height? (By the way, I favor TALL loops.) Burlap versus linen versus monks’ cloth? Or do you subscribe to the thought that it’s all about personal style, to hell with the other artists?
Spring is blooming all over. Enjoy it and get thee outside! Here in New Mexico the high desert is crazy-flowery. This is an ornamental rosemary growing just over our wall. Yes, we have used it to cook. It’s pretty pungent, though. A little goes a long way.
