How to hook crooked rows not straight ones

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}