Laura's Loop

I’m getting ready to teach a class at ‘Western McGown Teachers’ Workshop’; finishing up a small tapestry called ‘Tulips’. The pattern is from Honey Bee Hive Rugs, the sponsor of all of the ‘McGown Teachers Workshops’. I started attending in 2003 when I started teaching Rughooking. It’s a supportive group of people that come each year, to share the various skills needed to become a successful teacher. There is the training aspect of the workshops, along with the connections and friendships that are made; it’s really a teachers’ conference. It’s an exercise to anticipate and plan your class; it’s always joyous to gather together.

I taught my first class in 2006. I was given this little pattern and told to incorporate different textures. Along with textured wool, I used yarn, roving and some ‘creative stitches’. I developed a new stitch that I call ‘rip & wrinkle’; which is quite common in wide-cuts, these days. I over-dyed scrap wool with ‘Antique Black’ for the outer border. The class attendees were so supportive and several of the patterns came back the next year for the rug show!

Before I taught this class, I taught a class on Dyeing, then filled in for another teacher to teach this pattern with her interpretation. Asked to teach ‘Begin the Begin’ again, I got to hook it my way! This is a pattern that challenges your creativity and I’ve seen some amazing versions.

I was not familiar with the leaves of my next teaching assignment and my research indicated bright colours; from green to yellow to orange to red to purple to blue! Wow! My assignment was to hook this piece in a dark fashion. I couldn’t… I had to go bright! My first shaped rug, I dyed the yarn to match.

I was in love with wide-cut #8, at this time. I’d hooked a little landscape in a similar method; straight hooking, changing colours as indicated by the pattern. With a simple palette, it’s easy to accomplish. Part of the fun for me was using Dorr’s Ombre wool; the triangles and some of the center motifs are hooked with the ‘burgundy’ Ombre.

This was a very fun hook! Using #8 cut again, with outlining and swatch shading; 2 kinds. On the right, the flowers have 1 value petals; on the left each petal is shaded with several values. The background is filled in with a hooking technique that I call ‘random fill’. Then there’s some fun ‘echoing’ with several different blues, along the bottom. I enjoyed making this rug, but it hardly sees the light of day. I recently had to mend the edge, but luckily found the original whipping yarn and it’s all fixed up.

A small project, 8×10, with a painted apple! Gold outlining spiffs it up along with 2 swatches; lavender and seafoam. The ‘mock’ shading is not great; the swatches illustrate their lacking values. I brought my big electric fry pan and we all enjoyed painting the vivid apple wool!

A super challenging design with rocks, water, wood, perspective and shadows! I’ve admired photos of this grist mill and others on picture calendars for years, so when I was asked to design some rugs with buildings and perspective, I had to include this one. As these classes are 1-day affairs, we provide a small wool kit so students can get started. My kit included the wool for the wheel and the rockwork supporting it, as that is the beginning place.

I got to use my own pattern for a class on ‘Miniature Portraits’! It’s a subject I’ve taught many times, so I was prepared. Students customized their bride and groom to match their own weddings, which was fun. Small portraits are challenging and I haven’t seen any of the rugs come back… boo hoo.

Outline and Fill with Values! That’s what I like to say… and do. 14×14″; it’s a small pattern for shading, especially as I outlined each motif. Assigned to teach ‘mock shading’, I used #3 cut for the petals and #4 cut for the scrolly leaves. The petals are shaded differently depending on where they lay in the flower. There is usually a top petal and a bottom petal; the rest would be under a petal on one side, and above a petal on the other side. So, use mostly light values on the top petal, mostly dark values on the bottom petal, and a combination of values for the other petals. Since the leaves are so slender, I decided to use 3 of the 6 values of my Seafoam swatch. Wanting some value changes, I used values 1, 3, & 5. Eventually, I used the rest of the swatch on the border; using values 2, 4, & 6. This pattern is advertised as a Crewel pattern, but I would say it’s too small; there’s not enough room to add patterns to each motif.

I’m happy with my latest project; I call it ‘Dancing Tulips’ and my assignment is to illustrate movement. It’s another small pattern and my insistent outlining makes it a bit smaller. Using bright complimentary colours and action lines; I’ll show it to you after our ‘teachers conference’ in late June. I like to save the first viewing for my audience at ‘Western’!