Retreat into the Mountains 2012 ~

The retreat started with a talk on color by Susan Hoekstra of New Jersey.  Susan is a needlepoint designer and an expert in color planning.  I know NOTHING about color and tried my darnedest to grasp what she was saying.

We learned about using a gray scale to determine value.  This tool can help a person decide if there will be enough contrast in colors to hook them next to each other.  I'm hoping practice makes perfect :)

The majority of the hookers were fine cut hookers.  We are talking anywhere from a 2 to a 6.  Even though they were using a narrow cut, they were not doing the fine shading that I normally associate with the smaller cuts.  I have so much to learn!  The four Ohio hookers were all hooking with an 8 and higher and I believe there were only 2 other women hooking with higher than a 6.  It made for a very eclectic group.

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Here are some of the rugs in progress.  Forgive me that for the most part I can't remember who hooked what.  I do know these two rugs were started in the same class. 

This was Donna's (Crows on the Ledge) rug at the beginning of the retreat . . .

. . .and this is what it looked like a couple of days later.  I believe she was hooking it in an 8.5 cut.  She was one of the Ohio hookers.



Shirley was another Ohio hooker.  She is hooking this 3' x 5' rug as a wedding gift.  What a lucky couple!

Another Ohio hooker, Melissa ~ and my partner in crime ~ brought this almost completed rug to camp.  It's a Joan Moshimer pattern and she chose the perfect colors.  

Here's the rug I started.  I bought the paper pattern from Debbie of Woolnsails and had it enlarged.  It is an adaptation of an antique rug.  I have not found the time to pull another loop since returning home.  Maybe tomorrow . . . sigh.

Hookers on the porch . . .

 

Susan helping with color planning.

Stay tuned for more rugs.
Pug hugs :)
Lauren