Wednesday, August 24, 2011

IT'S TIME TO HOOK!!!

It's finally happened!  I think the Mojo is back!  Yesterday for the first time I really enjoyed hooking.  I really cannot imagine me without my hooking frame set up with a large rug in progress.

I have been working on my large pictorial for some time now and I think it is about 85% finished.  I felt as tho I had hooked myself into a corner.
I am not going to show the whole rug here since I did that some time ago.

 When I finished hooking the man's face I knew that I had a problem.  I needed something for his shirt that would balance color with the rest of the
piece and that would show thru the bird cage properly.  I could not use green because of the grass that surrounds the wagon and the wagon itself.
My "rule of thumb" when encountering a hooking problem is
not to de-hook but take the piece off of the frame and
let it rest for a week.  At the end of that time I lay the piece on the
floor and take a good look.  Usually by then the piece will tell me
what it needs.

This piece told me it needed a soft blue.  Something in the "steel" gray family or like worn out jeans.  I took a trip to Grant Street Woolworks and found exactly
whaat I needed in Linda's "odds and ends" jar.  I only need
a very small piece and this was perfect.
Thank you Linda.

As I am sure you know, I cannot go a whole week without hooking
so when I took the pictorial off of the frame I had to put
something on it.  Since the pictorial is being done with a #3 cut,
I decided it was time to take a break.  Instead of getting out
one of the large pieces already in progress, I started a new piece.
 This is Edith O'Neal's Lion.  I have had this piece for sometime
and have been anxious to see what I could do with it.  I am using a number of cuts but mostly #8 and #8.5.  Quite a change off from a
#3!

 As yoou can see, I have not finished the face at this point.
The face is hooked with a #6 cut and some #3 around the eyes.
I know that Lion's have amber eyes but with the brown/amber of the
beard I thought green eyes looked best.


Close up of face.

Close up of beard.  The beard is a #8.5 cut and is done with a brown/amber tweed and accented with a red/brown/orange plaid. The Lion's body is being done with three different dye lots of Dottie Ebi's Spots #1.  These materials are quite interesting because they were dyed by two different hookers.  Two dye lots are over Woolrich's while wool and one dye lot is over Dorr's yellow.  It is interesting for me to see the difference in the wool from one dyeing concept to another.  It is also interesting to see the difference that dyeing over colored material makes.  I hope you all try this sometime in the near future.

In the meantime, we have had some wonderful weather.   Hope all of you are
out enjoying this weather bonus.  Eloise has been spending
her mornings on the deck where it is nice and cool.  Of course she
has to greet the neighbors and their dogs as they
walk past.

Hope everyone keeps hooking and enjoys the short time left
of our summer.  When school is back in session (today is the first day here)
you know summer is about over.

Next week our family has a wedding and a
crab feast.  More on this later.   Have a great week.
Doris




8 comments:

Cathy G. said...

Doris,
Once again I am in awe of your hooking! Love what you're doing with the Lion! I think it's very interesting to dye over different colors too. It really does give more interesting wools! Thank-you for this interesting post! I have interesting on my brain today!
Have fun hooking and a pat on the head for Eloise from me!
Hugs!
Cathy G

Kim said...

Hi Doris,
Glad you are back in the hooking groove. I have pulled a few more loops the past few days too. I'm not really in the mood to hook a snowman in August but hey, I started it so now I want it finished.
Hugs to you and sweet Eloise.

Joanne said...

Glad you got your mojo back - you certainly must be living with that hook in hand with all you got done. A crab feast sounds wonderful! Eloise must be loving the weather - i know my boys run from window to window to watch the birds, the other kitties and the leaves!

weaverpat said...

Like the lion rug! 8.5!!! I can't believe it! You will have that one done in no time!
Enjoy the glorious weather. Did you feel the earthquake yesterday??? We were driving home from C-burg and didn't even know it was happening.
Maybe I'll see you tomorrow at Grant Street.

Sassafras and Winterberry said...

I learn so much from you. I love both of your projects. I'm eager to try dyeing over colored wool. I actually have some wool that has color I'm not overly fond of and I'll do some experimenting. I'm glad you're "back in the hooking saddle"!

Julia said...

Hi Doris, I love seeing the progress on your pictorial and your lion rug and your lion rug will be done in no time at all at the rate you are going. I'm glad that you got your Mojo back and I hope that some of that rubs off on me. My Childhood Memories rug is rolled up and put away until I find spare time.

I glad that you and Eloise are enjoying good weather. Here the chill is in the air after the sun goes down already. JB

Rugs and Pugs said...

Doris ~
So glad the hooking mojo is back and it's come back 100%. You've gotten a lot done. Love the lion! From a 3 cut to an 8.5. WOW!
Crab feast. YUM!!!
Hugs to Eloise :)
Lauren

Jacqueline said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing the pic's and the info on what you are doing.