Textured Wool vs. Solid Colored Wool

In yesterday's post I told you I'd show the wool used for CHUM and here they are.  At the very top left is the herringbone textured wool for Chum's face and to the right of that...the plaid, is what was used for the body.  Sorry, can't remember where I got that wool.  Oh but there were two solid green spots on the body and tail stripe which were a dark green.  

To the right of that (cattycorner) is a similar colored wool to what I used for the inside border.  When I started with that wool wasn't sure if there would be enough left home to finish the border.  So Barb Carroll generously gave me that piece to use whether I ran out or not.  She thought it would add to the old look if I put it in the rug since women used what they had and 'made do'.  Barb is so dang sweet.

On the left side bottom is a  boucle nubby wool which was a woman's blazer fabric and Barb loves using it in my rugs each time I take it.  Just love how it gives the look of wear.  And then the wool above that is a textured wool I purchased eons ago when I took a class with Patsy Becker at Cape May.  You can see a better view with the close up pictured below.

In the first picture, on the bottom is a plaid called Gemstone, a wool by Heavens to Betsy, which is the outer border line.  The inside primitive dark is a bunch of different dark colors from my stash of dark wool.

 

I've a confession to make.  Actually guess it really isn't so much a confession as an acknowledgement of my lack of knowledge about wool and hooking when I first started my journey.  So I'm just like the rest of you ~ hey, we all had to start somewhere.  So the thrift shop became my best friend to get different colors.  Problem was I didn't know how to use textures and tried to avoid them.  You can see this poor bland rug below that was hooked in almost all plain/flat wool...all except for the bowl which at the time I didn't particularly care for.  This rug I hooked on my own at home using #8 cuts.

Even some of my first teachers used mostly flat wool.  Everything in this rug is flat wool which may have been mottled or over dyed but still considered flat wool in my eyes now, thanks for the education by Barb Carroll on how to hook a warm antique looking rug.  Don't get me wrong, I love this rug and think it is beautiful.

Do I still hook with flat wool?  Yup and did so in my Ali Katz rug last year at Cape May.  But it depends on what I'm hooking.  If I want the rug look old and try my best to replicate an antique I'll use textures and strips of this and that to add to the 'make do' appearance.

I published this post yesterday but had forgotten to write another interesting fact about textures.  This one just blew me away.  I was at Cape May hooking a profile of my departed Shadow and to my dismay ran out of the wool for her head.  So my teacher (Diane Stofel) and I visited all the teachers to see what might work.  See that textured wool to the right of Shadow?  That is what I used to finish a lot of her part of her face and neck.

Once upon a time after taking my first few classes with Barb Carroll at Woolley Fox rug camp I thought about getting rid of all my flat wool but have since changed my mind since I do use it to hook flower pins and have used some in my son's Man Cave rug.  Just couldn't picture pool balls with textured wool since they are a solid flat, but shiny color.

In reality I really should dispose of some but hooking is more fun than downsizing the wool room.  Besides there just might be another whimsical or other rug which dictates that type of wool. 

Have a great evening everyone. 

Saundra