04 October 2013

Hooked (rag rugs)

The hooked chair pad, started in January 2012, is finally finished! It now graces my studio chair (a souvenir, via a refurbishment, of my former place of work) -
The patterning was derived by throwing some beads onto the burlap backing, and drawing circles where they fell - or not -
I wanted to keep lots of "empty space" but as the hooking progressed, those big expanses of black cried out to have little bright dots in them, so how could I resist? It's so easy to pull out a bit of hooking, and to redo it afterwards.

Hooking in progress -
Again, the drawn lines are only a suggestion, a starting point.

Since Hooked in London started, my output consists of these items:
"Road Rug" - about 90cm wide
"Chicken Challenge" coasters - 12.5cm diameter
Chair pad - 33cm x 36cm
All are wool, recycled from charity shop garments. Recently I discovered that some wools can be torn, rather than cut, into strips - a great time-saver; the effect of the "fuzzy edges" is different from cut edges, though. Using strips from knitted garments gives yet another effect, as the edges curl into a tube when tugged slightly.

Other members of the hooking group use strips cut from teeshirts, yet others use woven cotton - have a look here to see the variety of work in progress.

(This post is linked to Off The Wall Friday.)

2 comments:

LA Paylor said...

my word! The method of circle placement is hilarious, and effective. I just might have to adopt that sometime, I always like my placement of beads in audition stage, probably because they are more random than when they are sewn on.
LeeAnna Paylor
lapaylor.blogspot.com

Margaret Cooter said...

As you've sussed, throwing beads onto fabric is a trick to help start the design process. That first step of starting is the hardest!