January 19th, 2010
For the record I am coming down the homestretch on my penny circle rug. I want this rug to be one that I'm very proud of the nice straight edges. It looks pretty good in that regard so far. When I was drawing this pattern onto the linen I took a lot of extra care to make sure I drew the lines on the straight of grain. In fact I pulled threads on the linen both ways and in the valley along the line of the pulled threads was where I drew the lines for the outside edge of the rug. The reason I take extra time doing this and measure a lot while drawing the pattern in the first place is this rug:
A rug I designed and hooked in 2006. I had only been hooking for about a year. Look at the awful uneven edges on this rug. I am embarrassed to show you a picture of it. To this day I like the design of the rug very much. But every time I look at it all I see are the uneven edges. Rather ruined what could have been a great rug in my opinion. So a little advice to new hookers and as a constant reminder to myself...Slow down, take extra care when you are drawing your lines for the outside edges of your rug. It wouldn't hurt to measure and check that any new pattern you buy from someone else has been drawn on the linen with nice straight edges and following the grain of the linen. That way you will always end up with a rug you can be proud of.
