Rug Of The Day - The Stocking Was Hung

The Stocking Was Hung

Adapted from the artwork of Lori Brechlin/Notforgotten Farm

Hooked by Wendy Miller

I have always thought that this pattern was so very sweet.  In my imagination, a little girl had asked Santa for a dolly and found one in her stocking on Christmas morning.  It's actually more of an angel dolly because of the wings, but I can imagine her joy when she discovered it in her homemade stocking.

Lori puts little skeleton keys in her designs and this pattern has one drawn on it but Wendy sewed a real key to the rug, which makes it all the more charming.  Since the doll has stubble hair, the easiest way to hook it is to do a "beading" stitch half way around the head.  Beading is simply hooking with two strips of wool, each a different and contrasting color, at the same time. You pull up one loop of color, and then a loop with another color, and repeat.  I have the technique explained and demonstrated in my Introduction To Rug Hooking book, but you could also "google" it.  Make sure you search for "beading rug hooking stitch," otherwise you will get an entirely different subject!

To create the stubble hair, you would bead with a hair color and the background wool.  The larger the cut, the longer the stubble!

Another thing I love about this pattern are those tabs on the sides and the hit-or-miss circles on the stocking.  This is a great way to use up your noodle, bits and pieces, or worms.  You will also learn a little bit about color because you will soon see which colors work well and which colors fight each other.  It's a simple fix...if you don't like the way two colors are looking next to each other, just pull out the offending strip and try another.  I jokingly have called this "trail-and-error" instead of hit-or-miss.  But please don't obsess too much over the colors because it's supposed to look scrappy and random.  

Here is another sample of the rug, hooked by Rebecca Erb.

Isn't it fun to see everyone's interpretation and color plan?

You can find the pattern here:

https://www.spruceridgestudios.com/product/the-stocking-was-hung-17-x-33/