Rug Of The Day - Bittersweet Crow Pumpkin

Bittersweet Crow Pumpkin

Adapted from the design of Johanna Parker

Hooked by Kris Miller

I hooked this sweet little rug right after I hooked the Halloween Is Calling design.  I had just completed an orange pumpkin and really didn't feel like hooking another one.  I decided to make pumpkin similar to a Jarrahdale pumpkin and chose a gray/green texture.  I also thought a purple hat would jazz up the crow a bit and I did some beading for the hat trim with purple and orange.  

Johanna's design does not have a border and neither does the rug hooking pattern that I draw and sell.  However, as I started to hook the background toward the edges, I felt as if something was missing.  I began to play around with a border on a small section of one edge and after auditioning several different techniques and rows, I came up with two rows of beading.  I purposely made sure that a green loop was opposite a light loop so that it gave a checkerboard-like feeling.  The third row is one solid row of green and the fourth row is the wool I used for the accent lines in the pumpkin.  The inner three rows frame the rest of the design nicely without being too heavy and the outer row tells your eye that this is the outside edge and it's time to stop looking any further.

Here's what the rug would look like without the border:

Both are nice rugs but the border just adds a little more interest.  Wouldn't you agree?

To border or not to border...that is really the question!  My answer is to go with your intuition, your gut feeling.  Some of the rugs I have hooked do not have a border and I felt they did not NEED a border.  Maybe there was a lot going on in the center of the rug or the background color was sufficient enough and a border would be a distraction.  Some of my rugs have borders that are thin and delicate, maybe just one row.   Some have thick borders that act as a picture frame.  Sometimes my borders are made up of many rows and different colors, but almost always my outer rows are a dark value because I find that the most pleasing way to hook them.  Like the period at the end of a sentence, it is there to tell your eye that this is the end --  stop.

Here is the link for the Bittersweet Crow Pumpkin pattern:

https://www.spruceridgestudios.com/product/bittersweet-pumpkin-crow-20-5-x-22/

If you would like to hook a border for your Bittersweet Crow Pumpkin rug, let me know by indicating in the "notes" section of the order form that you need room for a border.  I will add an extra inch or so into the fabric allowance on the pattern.