Just a quick post to share the beauty that is Joanne Strauch's locker hook rug project. Second large section done!
You can see more photos of this rug project - from fleece to floor - on our Flickr page.
We had a wonderful, and super-busy October full of lots of fiber shows and lots of orders for Strauch fiber equipment. Now we're gearing up for the holidays. How about you? Do you have any Strauch equipment on your holiday gift list?
Joanne has been steadily at work on her rug, and over the weekend she joined two sections. I neglected to mention previously that the finished rug is going to be 7ft. by 9ft. Really big! Here's a photo of the progress so far:
I really love the way she carded different shades of the colors together. It gives the color blocks so much depth and visual texture.
In other news, we've been having a little fit of Spring weather in Happy Valley. It's been warm enough to have the shop doors open in the afternoon, and almost warm enough to sit out on the deck for lunch. We've seen robins, a bald eagle, wild turkeys, a ruffed grouse, and almost too many deer to count (86 in one afternoon commute!).
I hope you're seeing signs of spring where you are!
Joanne Strauch has been working on a fabulous rug in locker hooking, using carded fleece instead of yarn or fabric. It's been so much fun watching the rugs progress that I wanted to share just a few photos here.
This is her color study/sample for the rug, which is really a work of art in its own right. (Click on it for a full-sized image.)
One of the real joys of starting with fleece, as I'm sure you spinners and felters know, is having so much control over your end product. As you can see, Joanne's been playing with lots of beautiful colors, and blending shades of dyed fleece using her Strauch Motorized carder to get everything just right.
The process starts with raw fleece, which she then washes and dyes. Then comes the blending and carding to get just the right colors. When the batts come off the carder, Joanne draws them out into rovings, which she winds into balls to keep until she's ready to use them in the rug.
The fleece is hooked onto a canvas, using a special locker hook threaded with wool yarn. This rug is so large that Joanne is having to do it in sections, which will then be joined together. Here's a little preview of two of the sections she's done so far. You can see in the bottom photo how beautifully she's blended the turquoise and grey fleece. (Again, click on the photos for larger versions.)
We're hoping to work up a "how-to" series for the blog on this topic, so
stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can view either the photo set or a slide show on Flickr if you'd like to see some more pictures of the process.
We'd love to see what sorts of things you're doing with fiber. Send us a photo and let us know if we can share it here in The Wool Goes 'Round.
