Hooking ... thoughts

I don't know about you, but the day doesn't feel right unless I have my hook in my hand at some point. Yesterday, I began the binding on my large flower rug (see previous post), and didn't hook at all. When I was getting ready for bed, I felt like something had been missing in my day. It was the hook in my hand.

Although I'm continuing today working on the binding, I have also started repairing a rug for a man who contacted me about a rug his mother had made and the run-in the poor rug had with his dog. Thankfully, the hole the dog made was not that big, but the repair involves replacing a part of the burlap backing and trying to match the background strips. Here is a photo of the rug now sitting on my frame where I'm beginning the repair.

I dyed up three pieces trying to match the wool, and finally came up with this piece. Although it is brighter, I knew that eventually the wool would age and hopefully match the color of the original background. I have some strips from the rug that I'll hook in with the new wool.

One of the challenges of this rug is in trying to match the maker's loops. Everyone hooks a little bit differently and this hooker tended to keep her strips very low even though the strips are either a 5- or 6-cut. I like to keep my loops on the higher side, so this is something I have to pay attention to.

The other issue is that when the dog chewed the rug, the already older burlap stretched, making it difficult to do the straight rows on the border.

Wish me luck!