My focus for the last two years has been to “get crooked.” I thought I had made a breakthrough with Karen Kahle at Sauder Village in 2006. I was working on her Antique Rose Runner during the lunch break. All the other students were off eating and I was so excited about what and how I was hooking that I decided to work through lunch.
A woman came into the classroom to see what we were working on. I sat on the far side of the room. When she made her way to me, I stretched out the backing so she could get a better view. “Nice,” she mumbled. I then explained how I was concentrating on making everything crooked. She brightened up and said, “Oh, it is supposed to be that way.”
She probably felt sorry for me. This poor hooker can’t hook a straight line! BTW- if that was you, please contact me. I’d love to thank you. You changed my thinking.
I love this story because that week changed my hooking dramatically. I explained the feeling to my friends as “hooking naked.” I had no cares about what row I was hooking in. I grabbed whatever color was on top. I turned my brain off and hooked away. I had that rug finished within two weeks of coming home. I usually return from camp with less than a square foot hooked.
I applied this mindset to the design of my room sized rug in progress. The four corners are slightly different. Nothing is perfect. But when I got to hooking the boundaries for the hit and miss, I hooked three rows in perfect alignment for the outside edge of the hit and miss. I was unhappy about the look, see the post for Day 65! It took me this long to figure out what was wrong. This is one reason I always move out to the borders ASAP.
Crooked lines make a rug look more antique
I decided to make the border lines more wobbly as I did in Antique Rose Runner. I decided to use the line I drew for the edge as a guideline only. I hooked the center line and wavered three holes left and three holes right at random. Then I hooked another strip on each side for the three rows I wanted. Much better. In Day 065 you can see how much of the straight line stuff I ripped out. You can also see how I adjusted the width of the hit and miss border. The crooked lines instantly softened the tone of the border and I think makes it look older.
{happy dance}
Read all the posts about my Room sized Rug (Updated 2019)
- Day 1-35 of rug hooking: Putting the pattern on the backing & hooking a rose
- Day 36 My temporary rug hooking set up – How to hook a large rug
- Day 38 – 94 Resolving the Large Leaves & Hooking the Border
- Day 94 How to hook crooked rows not straight ones
- Day 99-275 Circle Border on Room-sized Rug
- How to Hook the Circle Border
- Day 276 – 425 Progress on Room-sized Rug
- Day 426 – 659 Progress on Room-sized rug
- New Border Ideas for Room-Sized Hooked Rug
- Day 660 – 902 progress on Room-sized Rug
- Day 903 – 2491 Progress on Room Sized Rug