Rug of the Month: November 2018

November’s Rug of the Month is a fun project that Ania completed recently. The pattern is called “Lima,” and it was made by Jane McGown Flynn. The rug’s dimensions are 30″ by 54″, and Ania hooked it mostly in #5 strip wool (with a few #4 strips thrown in).

An image of the finished project is included below, along with feedback from Ania on how she approached this project:

Ania’s completed “Lima” rug.

Why did you decide to hook this pattern? 

I started this project years ago, in a class taught by Martha Beals. I wanted to take a class with Martha, and I chose this pattern because I wanted to hook a larger rug. Most of the pieces I had hooked up until that point had been smaller in size.

How did you color plan for this project? 

I wanted to dye my own wool for this project. This was the first time I dyed wool, ever. I spoke with Martha about what I needed to do to prepare for the class, and she advised me to choose a color I was interested in using in this project and then over dye three different colored pieces of wool with that color.

What I ultimately ended up doing was dyeing natural wool three different colors that I thought would be interesting in the rug. Then I over dyed each of the three colors with the primary colors, so that I had nine different colors to work with. I like using primary colors to connect differing colors.

I also used green wool from my stash for the turtles.

The Lima pattern incorporates elements of nature like turtles and waves.

What was the biggest challenge with this project?

The entire rug has its motifs on the diagonal. I would hook a section at a time. After I had hooked about half of the motifs, the rug pattern changed from a rectangle shape to a rhombus shape. It was difficult to work on the pattern when it’s shape had shifted. I needed to bring the rug back into a rectangle shape, and the way to do that is to hook the outer border.

I had initially avoided hooking the border because I wasn’t sure of what my color placement would be. I wanted to see how the different reds, blues, and golds went together and I wanted to ensure I could tie them together symmetrically before deciding on the border.

Ania used a lot of reds and golds in hooking this pattern.

What’s your favorite part of this project?

Having it finished! It took a number of years to finish, and it grew with me. I started it in 2012, and I finished it earlier this year. This project has been a timeline of my hooking career thus far.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about this rug?

I always look to identify the simplest points of symmetry when I start a rug, and this pattern has a symmetry down the center diagonal line. I created a pattern with color using this line of symmetry. I used the same pattern in the bird and scroll panels. On one side of the symmetry line I used color A for the background and color B for the bird/scroll, and on the other side of the symmetry line I used color B for the background and color A for the bird/scroll.

I also dyed the yarn to do the whipping for this project by eye using completely different dyes than I normally use. We did another blog post about that process.

 

The white line in this image shows the line of symmetry.

If you have any questions for Ania, feel free to leave them in the comments below.