Don't forget ... wool giveaway!

If you are thinking of purchasing wool for a project, please check out my Etsy shop. If you purchase something by September 30, you will qualify for my 1/2 yard wool giveway. Thanks to those who have already purchased and qualified. Lots of great wool to see! Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/woollymammothwoolens

Had a great time at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival last weekend. Finally got to meet Sarah at Paisley Rug Hooking. Her booth was the only one related to hooking, and was beautifully set up.

Highly Recommend

Don't know where I came across this book, but I have to recommend it to all those sheep and fiber lovers out there. The book is called Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet and is written by Catherine Friend. Here is the description of the book by Amazon.com:

What do you do when you love your farm . . . but it doesn’t love you? After fifteen years of farming, Catherine Friend is tired. After all, while shepherding is one of the oldest professions, it’s not getting any easier. The number of sheep in America has fallen by 90 percent in the last ninety years. But just as Catherine thinks it’s time to hang up her shepherd’s crook, she discovers that sheep might be too valuable to give up. What ensues is a funny, thoughtful romp through the history of our woolly friends, why small farms are important, and how each one of us—and the planet—would benefit from being very sheepish, indeed.



Written in short chapters, this book is laugh out loud funny and actually quite informative. If you are looking for some light reading about our favorite animal, check out this book.

Grab Bag!

Who doesn't love a grab bag?!?!? Tomorrow I'm attending my rug hooking group's hook-in. The group is at a retreat center for three days, but I can only attend on Tuesday. As part of the activities, there is a grab bag given to each participant. This is my contribution:

Each person will receive instructions and enough dye to dye a half yard of wool. I've got several different formulas packaged up and have included detailed instructions. I hope it's well-received!

New Wool

Here are two colors I dyed today and have put up for sale in my Etsy shop. I haven't made them for a while, so it was fun to see them emerge from the dye pots.

Mighty Oak is a mix of browns and golds. Beautiful mottling.

Berry Fields is a transcolor that blends from a chestnut red to a wine to an olive green in varying shades of those colors.

You can find these wools for sale at http://www.etsy.com/shop/woollymammothwoolens.

Be sure to visit my new Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/WoollyMammothWoolens

Progress

**** I have amended this post to include a photo (added at the bottom) that shows Winter Tracks (the background of my rug) along with natural yarn and yarn that was dyed when Winter Tracks was dyed. These three fibers are used in my background along with some stray bits of greens and camels.


Progress is a great word! You can pull a few loops, and it's progress. Or you pull a hundred loops, and it's still progress. Well, I've made progress!!

Here is the latest photo of my rug based on a cemetery stone I saw in the Vatican Museums. It's coming along just fine, and I love mixing a bit of slub yarn here in there to add texture. I dyed some of the yarn using my Winter Tracks formula and it really adds to it.

I took the photo outside which is why you see some areas of sunshine.

ALSO... Woolly Mammoth Woolens now has a Facebook page. "Like" this page at this address:

http://www.facebook.com/WoollyMammothWoolens

Etsy shop and giveaway

For the month of September, I'm offering a chance to win a half yard of assorted hand-dyed wool to anyone purchasing an item (items) from my Etsy shop. You will automatically be entered with a purchase, and I'll post the winner on my blog.

The store is stocked with LOTS of wool, patterns, and binding tape
to get you started on the those fall rugs. Take a peek!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/woollymammothwoolens

Next Rug

Here is my new rug project.

A few years ago, my husband and I visited Italy ... our first European adventure! One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Rome, and of course, that meant an excursion to the Vatican. I got to see masterpieces of art that I never expected to see: The Pieta, The Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and with a visit to the Vatican Museums countless works of art by the most famous of artists. I think the most inspiring painting I saw was "The Transfiguration" by Raphael. It was showcased in a large room, one that was actually quite dark. Here is my photo:

Part of the Vatican Museums is devoted to cemetery/funereal artifacts. They were so interesting, and the carvings were amazing. Here are three in particular:

The first photo of this trio is the one I was intrigued with. I thought the image lent itself to a rug design. So, I placed my photo in Adobe Illustrator, traced the image (very rough trace), adjusted to my finished size and printed it. From there, I traced it onto white linen and started staring at it!

I wasn't sure what colors I wanted to use, so I printed some small versions of the rug, got out my trusty colored pencils and worked on a number of color variations. I finally decided to work in browns, creams, grays and greens.

Here is the rug in progress:

Some of the wool used in this rug:

Walnut Grove

Winter Tracks

Finished!

My "flower rug" is finished! Always exciting to get a rug done. It measures 38.5" x 40" and is based on a quilt pattern. I drew the pattern quite a number of years ago, so I was glad to take it off the shelf and actually do something with it.

I also finished the rug repair on the rug I showed in my previous post. It was a bit more complicated that expected, but turned out well. Of course, I returned the rug to its owner without taking a picture. Yikes! A few things I noted while working on this rug:

• Burlap does not hold up that well. It was amazing that for a rug only 11 years old just how worn it was.
• The wool used in this rug was very faded, again after only 11 years. I tried to reuse some of the wool that had been removed by the dog, and it was very brittle. Of course, I'm not sure if it was 100% wool.

I guess the moral of the story is keep your dogs (and cats, too) away from your rugs!!