Departure #1: A new technique
Each year my guild hosts a summer meeting. Topics vary but
it is always a chance to gather with friends and learn something new, perhaps a bit tangential to
weaving. At last summer’s program I learned Locker Hooking, an easy and
satisfying technique in which fabric loops are pulled up through a canvas and
locked into place by way of a cord running through the loops. After the program
I was inspired to hook a larger piece.
When I finally managed to find a large piece of canvas I
eagerly began hooking a piano-key border in black and blue strips cut from tee
shirts. The single knit fabric makes a nice cushy structure and I was pleased.
But once the border was in place I could not decide how to proceed with the
center/main design area of the rug. I wanted to hook detailed images but was
afraid because this was my first stab at Locker Hooking a big project on my
own.
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| Locker Hooked Pond Rug |
Please permit here a slight departure. Over the past summer
my husband and I have been working to redesign our back yard. We increased the
size of our little Goldfish Pond from 150 gallons to 300 gallons. It is only a stock
tank sunk into the ground but we like it. With twice the space our fish are
flourishing and we have employed new technologies for fighting algae. In the
past Raccoons and Great Blue Herons have decimated our fish population but we
decided not to add a protective cover mesh on the new pond. Instead we built a
camouflaged hidey cave on the pond floor. Five months later the water is still
clear, our fish are survivors and we can see and enjoy them better. Knock on
wood!
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| Chart on page 141 inspired my Pond Rug design |
Anyway, ponds and fish had been on my mind when I finally
came back around to Locker Hooking. Searching for inspiration I scoured my
library for charted needlework designs. In “The Filet Crochet Book” by Chris
Rankin I found a design of fish and flowers breaking through borders.
Adjusting the figures to fit my canvas, I added the water lily leaves and bud
and then filled the background to look like water. There was a bright orange
tee shirt in my rag stash – perfect for either Goldfish or Koi. It all came
together nicely and I spent many hours over Christmas and into January happily
hooking.
Departure #2: Time Away
The entire second half of January I was away from home. Somewhere
in my travels I caught this year’s dreadful cold/flu. Four weeks later I am
still coughing and wheezing but feeling grateful to be improving every day. I
finished my pond rug the night before I left on the trip but haven’t had time or energy to post about it until now.
Return: Home Again and Back to Weaving
The Pond Rug works well in front of our refrigerator where
it catches errant ice cubes from the (ridiculous and messy) in-door dispenser.
It makes me smile every time I step in the pond!
While I was away my husband bought me another package of the
hard-to-find hooking canvas. Further pond ideas are dancing in my head. Maybe they are “swimming” in my head? But those will have to percolate in my mind for a bit because these days I am back at my loom and Waffle Weaving away. It is all fun!
May you stay well.
Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver
