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.)