Overdyeing Project

I started this blog post way back in the fall and held on to it as Iris was going to show this rug at the OHCG Annual - well that’s now done/over, and we can finally show the project and explain a bit about the process to design it. 

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See what our Iris is working on!  It’s a pretty nice project, intended to use up mostly leftovers and/or unloved colours.

Iris realized she had a whole whack of colours in her stash that she wasn’t sure she had a use for…..so she overdyed them to create this fabulous rug, destined for her kitchen floor.  It’s big-ish:  3x5?

Here’s the initial buzz she created at thursday hooking when she brought it in to work on.  When she explained her process we asked her to bring in the original inspiration rug, as well as some of her undyed wool.

This is the design she first used in a zoom class with Laura Salamy (Build a Baby Boucherouite).

Iris started with a bunch of beige, gray and plaid wool, and then overdyed it with Magic Carpet Bottle Green.  She didn’t worry too much about consistency of colour for each batch - in fact she used those differences to her advantage by hooking mostly dark colours at the start of the project and then gradually moving to more of the lighter colours towards the bottom.  

Other than the diamond outlines, the whole thing is horizontal line hooking.  As it’s intended for fairly heavy use in the kitchen, Iris ensured even wear by stopping/starting her rows at the diamond outlines.  

The diamonds themselves look like white wool, but they’re actually a very pale version of the bottle green.  Those hits of lighter colour throughout?  They’re simply from a plaid that dyed up with both lighter and darker areas.

Here’s a photo of the wools waiting to be used, along with a few of the original colours.

This has got some folks looking over their own stashes to see what they can cook up with this approach!

And here’s the final result:

While Iris didn’t win a prize at the OHCG Annual, this rug certainly generated a fair bit of buzz!

Busy Times!

 It’s been a busy few weeks, what with the OHCG Annual in London, and the Hook-In with Judy at the AGN, and our regular monthly Monday meeting, and a few other things thrown in.  Here are a few photos we haven’t posted yet:

First up is Yvonne and her first ever hooked project - completed and made into a pillow.  Well done.  She is right to be very proud of this accomplishment!

On Tuesday, Dianne and Audrey attended a coffee break meeting at the church.  This is a group of folks who gather regular as a sort of discussion group, and they wanted to know more about rug hooking.  Dianne and Audrey brought along lots of examples of hooked items, and Audrey read several poems/items relating to rug hooking.  There was even something from the Bible (Proverbs 31):  She is always gathering wool and flax and enjoys making things with her hands.

A rare photo of Dianne with a hoop in her hand!

At Monday’s meeting Dianne brought back many of the rugs that were on display at the Annual, including Dolores’ prize-winning rug!