End and Beginning

The most closely-watched trial in this country in a long time ended today, with three guilty verdicts.  Perhaps this signals the beginning of some kind of reckoning for racial injustice in this country.  There is so much work ahead.  I put my head down and sobbed when I heard the convictions--relief, and sadness.  All mixed in.
                                                                             ***
Allow me to change the subject completely, as I do not want to get into the habit of posting political thoughts--that's not the focus of this blog.  So there was another ending today:  I finished this rug, which I've been struggling with for quite a while.  I had one color scheme in mind, and it didn't work out. 

Not. At. All.  Which meant I had to rip out a large proportion of the rug, think about what else might work, and then re-hook a large proportion of it.  I did, and just finished binding it today.  Next I gave it a good steaming and took a picture.  Tonight I'll sew on the label.  Hurrah!

Pattern available from W.Cushing & Co, Wells, Maine. Completed in 2020...yes, a pandemic rug.

The pattern is by Pearl K. McGown; I at first thought it was a very early design of hers, done while she was still in her early "geometric phase" and before she started designing the florals for which she's better known.

Later I discovered it's actually one of the last rugs she designed--another spate of geometrics named after her grandchildren, one of whom is named Duncan.

I did the color planning--much trickier than it sounds, as I mentioned above--and of course I did the hooking using largely #8 strips (with a few 6s and maybe even some 5s) from my stash.  I bought a few scraps, but nearly all the wool (some of which I dyed) was from my stash so this rug didn't require more than perhaps a total of one yard of new wools.  If that.

There was a LONG period as I worked on this where I was aiming only to "get it done," thinking it was so ugly that I'd never want to see it again.  But now that I've changed the colors and done a lot of re-hooking, I like it.

My "Duncan" was inspired by one I saw in 2009 at a rug show of the late Lida Skilton Ives' work.  The show was held at UConn in Storrs CT and the "Duncan" Mrs. Ives did stopped me dead in my tracks--I fell in love on the spot and knew I would hook it one day.  Gee, it only took me twelve years to start my own version.  Mine doesn't resemble hers one bit, but she completely inspired me.  Thanks also to my friend Kathleen H who, when she saw the photo of the Ives rug, told me it was a McGown pattern--I would never have guessed.  And Kathleen had already hooked her own version before we ever met, and since then has hooked a second one.  Phew.

The beginning?  It's time to begin cleaning up the mess the production of this rug generated.  And to begin a new rug.  I have just the one, ready to put on the frame.

---