Monday, March 02, 2015

Velvet, Raw Wool & Rabbits ~


Good Monday Morning!

Over the weekend, 
I decided to sketch up a "primsical"rabbit onto some linen…
"primsical" being a word I spliced together to better describe my work ~
a little primitive, a little whimsical…
{you get the idea.}

so I began hooking him with my chosen wools….
then I thought of the children's story of the Velveteen Rabbit
and how he came to life.

and as I hooked, I thought more of that ~ 
how the wools/fibers we are using to create a hooked rug were alive once too;

how the linen was once a growing flax plant, harvested from seed 
by basket carrying and bonnet & apron wearing women
and finally woven to create my very favorite fabric.

and those wools ~ 
yes, they were alive once too…
growing on the backs of murmering sheep
who were raised on grass and sunshine in sweet smelling meadows and upon rolling hills
{humor me a bit & think of the movie Sense & Sensability here}
{{ok, so my imagination wanders a bit ~ but isn't it nice to think that though?}}

ok, back to reality.
oh and the velveteen rabbit part.




I have some loverly hand dyed velvets that I purchased from Laura at
that I thought would work well for the patches on my wool rabbit rug.
and it does work well…




the addition of a different fiber adds more life to my design ~
more character to my character, 
...if you will….

but then I had another thought.
{oh no}

why not add some more interest to the rug with some other fibers as well?

so you can see that I hooked his tail in wool strips,
but I decided it needed something more ~
{of course}

soooo I pulled out his tail of wool strips
yep I did.




and I went to my basket of hand spun raw sheeps wool and thought:
why not?




as you can see he is evolving as I hook ~ 
~ the inked sketch is merely an initial thought on the linen
the finished products never actually end up looking like they did when I began.
and that's ok!





you can see in the snap below how nice the velvet looks ~
it gives the rabbit a bit of sheen, but not too much.
...hooking with velvet is tricky though,
 and messy!!

I hand cut mine into 1/4" strips with my trusty spring-loaded Fiskar scissors,
as I do will all of my wool for my rugs.




so I pulled out the wools in the tail…





and cut a length of my wonky-spun wool yarn
to hook in it's place.
yeah, I spin like I hook ~
all over the place, not evenly and by far not perfect in any matter at all.
and that's ok too!




I love working with my raw sheep's wool ~
this is from our ewe Esther and her son Bobby 
...who are Jacob & Jacob/Finn sheep.

each spring & fall we shear them, I pick the wool, then wash it ~
I have a drum-carder to do the work of hand carding for me, 
then I finally spin it on my trusty Ashford wheel.

the process of all of this comforts me ~ and I love my gentle sheep ;)





since the spun wool yarn is thin & thick in places,
I decided to double the yarn & hook it through the linen…
nice & full and definitely more dimensional
which was what I was aiming for to begin with!





in the photo below, you can see how the tail is more prominent
….perfect to me!

oh & yeah, at the moment he looks more like a moose…
but that will change too ~ ha!
along with those tongues on the left-side of the rabbit…don't like them at all.




and here is the inspiration for my work in progress ~
my tiny rabbit collection amongst some of my ironstone on my bonnet-cupboard:
{{although not one of them looks like the one I'm hooking now, do they?}}





more rabbits on my jelly cupboard ~
oh and sheep, rams & birds too….




and now here are my Pineberry rabbits ~
made from a delightful pattern by sweet-friend 
Wendy of Pineberry Lane

I love them dearly ~ 
the look on their faces make me chuckle each time I glance their way…



I'll share more progress on my rabbit rug with you soon ~
OR if you'd like, you can visit my group on Facebook,
the Out of Hand Rug Hookers Group to see snippets of my progress in between my postings here…
not a member of the group?
send me a request to join! I'm happy to include you in the fun & frivolity over there…
 ~ here's the group link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/642314212550133/

...AND speaking of 'hopping'

Today marks day TWO of the
Buttermilk Basin Spring Thyme Blog Hop!
and the guest artisan is

Hop on over and see the 'tweet' little offering she has for you!!!



~ Blessings from the Farm ~
 Lori

7 comments:

Mugwump Woolies said...

That's one fine hare! Love his color and textures!
Looking forward to seeing some beautiful pics when Spring finally makes her way to my beloved Virginia.
Have a great week,
Robyn

Dogwood Farm said...

I love him already!!!
xo

Unknown said...

Lori, I love the new tail. Can't wait to see him finished! ;)

Doreen Frost said...

OH Lori..this is amazing. Can not wait to see him finished!

I am taking a rug hooking class at the end of May (A surprise Christmas gift from my husband)..I can NOT wait to learn!

wishing you a lovely day, doreen

lms said...

this post makes me feel like spring is very close....it put a big smile on my face....love his new tail.....cant wait to see it finished...

DKay said...

Lori - I so enjoyed reading this post. Beautiful thoughts and work.

scatteredseedsamplers said...

Dear Lori,

ALL your rabbit friends are SO special...love them ALL! Excited to see how the hooked one will turn out :) Kindly, Tammy