Tessie Said I Could.....

I asked permission to take a break from the mean old pod chair. Tessie granted said permission with the condition that I work on something else for the townhouse...

She rummaged around in the workroom for a while and then lugged out my jar of fine crewel wool.

"How's about you make me a 60s Rya rug for the living room? I know that you used to make big ones back in the olden days...." she said.

I ignored the "olden days" crack. I have been wanting to see what I could come up with in miniature for a while now.

Anything to get away from wicker for the day.

After I let her out of the jar, she dragged out the piece that you see her clutching to her chest. It is really more pink, orange and red than it is just shades of orange.

I was working under my favorite lamp and that tends to make it have a yellowish cast.

Anyway, I pulled out some #24 congress cloth and went to work, using one strand of crewel wool.

The stitch used in making rya rugs is the same as a lark's head knot that is used in macrame and in the making of some oriental rugs. The difference is, it is done with a continuous length of thread with loops between stitches.

There are only two parts to the stitch. The needle is always pointed towards the left(if you are right handed), but you are working the stitches in a line, left to right.

You go under one thread of the congress cloth from right to left. For the first stitch only, you do the same thing a second time, making sure that the needle come out below the loop.

The line of stitches are formed, in real size over a wooden slat. For this, I used a strip of quilling paper.

Working on every other row of holes, you start at the bottom and work the rows up to the top.

Here is a website, one of many, that shows the making of a real rya. http://www.paivatar.com/RYA/rya-instruct.htm

I think that it is easier to see how it is done in the larger size. If you put "rya rug instructions" in your favorite search engine, you will fine all kinds of sites with info.

This is another project that is a bit time consuming, but I will show you the start and by tomorrow, I will have a finished rug. I am using a hand dyed yarn, so it makes it's own pattern.


If this one turns out well, I may just have to try one with an actual sixties pattern.

Here you can see the finished loops on the left and the "shaggy" way it will look when completely finished on the right.

I am going back now and play with my crewel wool some more now........Wicker? What wicker?........

See you tomorrow.