Holly & Ewe
Designed and hooked by Kris Miller
I designed this pattern for a technique class many years ago. I was teaching hooking with roving (the sheep), sculpting with wool strips (the holly berries), sculpting with roving (pom pom on Santa's hat), crochet edge finish (easy to do since the rug is oval and has no corners) and eyes (both Santa and sheep).
Hooking eyes can be a scary thing to do when you are hooking faces. It can make or break the whole feeling of the design. The first time I hooked an eye, I thought that there must be some sort of process or maybe a particular order in which to hook. Even though I consider myself a primitive/wide cut rug hooker, I wanted my eyes to look somewhat realistic. So I came up with a plan that works for me every time. Yes, it took some patience and practice, but I enjoy hooking faces now. And my technique is suitable for animal eyes as well as people.
I like to teach hooking eyes during my classes and I enjoy it even more when my students make a beautiful eye and they are excited about it. Once I demonstrated hooking an eye on a student's pattern and I told her she had to hook the other one. She nervously got to work and later the class decided that her eye was better than the one I hooked! Perfect! That made my heart sing!
You can find the Holly & Ewe pattern here:
If you want to learn my technique for hooking eyes, you can buy my booklet here:
Not only does my booklet teach you how to create realistic, primitive eyes, it also teaches you how to do silly, googly quillie eyes (perfect for spooky creatures) and a simple technique for a no-fuss bird's eye. There's lots of step-by-step pictures so it's easy to follow along.
You've taught eye hooking in classes I attended but still purchased the booklet to have as a reminder and visual when doing an eye at home. Nice booklet and nice Santa.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful rug, Kris! I've got to get back into hooking!
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