Hooking 'Till The Cows Come Home!

Saundra  and Lorena

"Till the cows come home!"  Ever wonder where that saying came from?  Having grown up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin I think I may know the answer!  I can remember our dear milking cows each summer being pastured in the "back forty" acres on the farm.  They had to amble through a couple of wooded acres to reach the pastures. I remember the dirt paths being worn smooth from the daily plodding of hooves  except for the  gnarly roots of some of the big oaks which stuck up out of the ground. We kids running barefoot to go fetch the herd back home for milking time had to step gingerly or risk broken toes. One summer a broken toe forced me to wear house slippers for shoes for most of the summer!  By the time school started in the Fall I was able to wear my regular shoes again.

But I digress!   The point is it took a long while for those cows to plod single file back to the barn. Sometimes my Dad would holler " Come boss" and bang on an empty  metal feed bucket and they would start the journey on their own.  But most days we kids and the farm dog would be forced to go the couple of miles through the woods to wave our arms and nip at their heels to try and speed them up a little!

Lately around the Red House Wool Studio here in my home the ladies have gathered less frequently to hook as the hot humid days have taken their toll.  But a few days ago Saundra and Lorena  stopped by and we had a nice gab session and some fun picking wool colors for their current rugs they are hooking. Saundra is working on a long rug for a bench that faces the lake scene outside her window. The design is of course the lake scene itself. Saundra drew this on the linen and is working with a size 6 strip for lots of detail. So far it is looking fabulous.  

Lorena who lives by a lake also is working on a rug for in front of their wood parlor stove. The design is depicting a loon on the water and she drew this design on the linen  also.  Theses ladies are artists!  They learned to hook in Florida where each of them spend a portion of the winter.  They found me through my blog and have been joining me and my students here for our hooking sessions. 

Hooking and hooking "till the cows come home"!  

As for me I have been hooking and hooking also! 

I finished a new rug I designed and have decided to release a paper pattern for it. The paper pattern is almost ready.......  hopefully by the end of this week.  In any event look for a post shortly where I will show you the rug!  

As you've probably noticed if you've been following my blog..... things sometimes take me awhile to get done..... like waiting for those durn cows to come home!

Cathy G