Red and Black Finish.

Red & Black Rug, 2018. 8-cut wool on linen. Some wool hand-dyed by me and by others, some off-the-bolt wool.

I finally finished my "Red & Black" rug today.  This piece feels as though it's been underway for years. 

It's not a big rug, either; it's probably about 2'x3' at most. 
After I finished the binding and then the final steaming, I laid it down on my tile floor to dry and went into my journal to search for the starting date of this rug.  I couldn't find it, but it has to be either 2016 or 2017, early in the year*.

So in actuality, I don't know how long it did take me.  But certainly over a year.  Things got incredibly complicated when I bought the house, packed up after 40 years in one place, moved, started unpacking, and broke my wrist.

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There were a lot of lessons in this rug, and good memories too.

I thought when I designed it (yes, it's my design) that I could use up all of my red and black wool.  Well, that didn't work out!  The wool apparently multiplied itself secretly overnight and I am left with what looks like the same amount of red and black wool as I finish the rug as I had when I began.  So one lesson is that wool you want to use up never fully goes away, while wool you are worried about not having enough of will ALWAYS run out in a crucial spot.  Guaranteed.

I thought hooking in straight lines would be a cinch.  Surprise!  Not so easy for me.  I learned I am not good at hooking in straight lines at all.  But...I kept on truckin'.

I started it while living in one place, and finished it in another.  I miss my Woolies so much...and at the same time am forging new friendships out here.  I feel fortunate to be making some new friends.  (But still wish my other peeps weren't so far away...)

I had to put it down and pick it up about a zillion times, with long delays in between due to packing, moving, unpacking, and my damaged wrist and hand.  There was a major lesson in patience and persistence to get it done. 

But I got it done.  That's the biggest lesson.

"Nevertheless, she persisted."

*Addendum:  Checking my photos of this rug, I see that I started it in January of 2016, so over two years from start to finish.  Yikes.  (I may have put it aside to complete at least one other rug in the meantime, however.)