I was eager for more but had no supplies except for a few leftover strips of felted wool from the lighthouse kit and a 4″ roll of Aida cloth that Monica had left over from her cross stitch days. In addition, I cut up an old Pink Floyd t-shirt (for the colors) and started a mini landscape like the ones Deanna Fitzpatrick describes in her book. It was good practice but I only got half way when I ran completely out of material. So, Monica and I made a trip to Walmart where I picked up three skeins of multi colored craft yarn… the fat fuzzy kind. It was easy to work with and makes a fluffy loop which conceals gaps in the process (great for a beginner). I finished the little landscape and went on to do a tree.
For proper practice, I needed some proper backing (linen monk’s cloth). So, Monica and I headed uptown to visit the Good Fibrations store on Germain Street (both Monica and Sarah had given me gift cards to this store for Christmas). Not only did I get lots of monk’s cloth, but also seven skeins of wool yarn in the colors of the spectrum plus black. At home, I had to turn those skeins into balls for easy storage and use.
Excited to try hooking with yarn, I chose a fairly complex Celtic Knot design and sized it to 9″ to fit the hoop that came with the lighthouse kit. I drew the pattern onto the monk’s cloth with sharpie market and outlined it with black yarn. Then I filled in the knot with yellow wool yarn. I was going to use the royal blue wool yarn for the background but it was too dark against the black border. So, off to Walmart to look for a lighter blue. I found a “mod blue” cotton yarn that would have a good contrast.
Learning Notes: 1) the wool yarn was easier to hook than the cotton yarn (or for me it was). The four cotton strands wanted to unravel easily and sometimes only one or two strands hooked up through the hole.
2) more attention will be paid to the grid work in the monk’s cloth. The black line of the sharpie market obscured some of the holes and I struggled to keep a straight line at times. Even a single row shift will draw the eye (or it does mine).
Great fun. Very relaxing. Here is my 9″ Celtic pot holder. Amateurish but not a failure. ☺️
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