Funky Scrappy

Funky Scrappy, 27“ x 22“, various cuts wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Janine Broscious, Monrovia, Maryland, 2017.

I’ve been rug hooking for less than three years, and already my “worm” bag overflowed. I’ve carried this bag with me all over the country, intending to use up the mass of cut wool. But instead I consistently found myself cutting up more wool—wool that was just perfect for my current project.

My journey as a hooker started with a kit. Everything was so neat and tidy—the kit maker was generous, though, and I was left with a few worms. I was already addicted to this art form, so I plunged ahead, deciding to make my own design. I have a rug hooking shop nearby and I went there and drooled a bit over the wool. The shop owner (or should I say enabler?) was patient with me as I chose many pieces of wool for my little project. I wanted to use more than one wool texture in each part of my design. She knew I was a brand new rug hooker without a cutter and willingly cut all my wool.

However, what seemed like such a blessing left me with a problem.  Now I had baggies full of cut wool left over after finishing my little project. I planned my next mat and I thought I’d use up a lot of my worms, but alas, the new pattern begged to have brighter, different colors. This time after buying the wool, I didn’t have her cut it all. I just cut what I needed as I went with my rotary cutter. Eventually, I bought a cutter of my own.

Those worms kept multiplying. When I traveled, I would cut wool ahead of time so I could hook in the car. Or if we were visiting relatives, rather than take my cutter, I’d make the strips up before we left. You see the pattern. No matter how I tried not to have it happen, I would end up with extra. Sometimes lots of extras.

I found that this is a common problem. “What do I do with all these worms?” “I swear my worms are multiplying over night!” I also learned that there were terms for using up these wiggly masses: scrappy rugs, and hit-or-miss mats. It was time to try one of my own.

Remember when we used to be trapped in one spot while talking on a phone? As a little girl, I remember watching my mom holding the handset held in one hand. She often had a piece of paper and a pencil in case she had to take notes. Or maybe it was just to occupy herself during boring calls. Whatever the reason, she would doodle. I was fascinated with the progression of these doodles which often went from flowers to swirls or hearts. She doesn’t realize it, but my mother, who says she is not creative at all, was an inspiration to me to draw. Why not fill a piece of linen with some of those doodles and use up those worms?!

Drawing the pattern was easy, but when it was time to start hooking, I just wasn’t sure how to begin. Should I just reach into my worm tote and pull out a color? Close my eyes, insert the hook, and see where it landed? I was tempted! I struggle at the beginning of each piece. Being unsure of how to start, I put it off and indulge in overthinking.

I tried planning for this rug, but it just seemed confusing. I was used to being able to hold a nice pile of folded wool next to the pattern and imagine where I would insert different textures.

The heart asked to be hooked first, so I lectured myself to “jump in and not worry about the end result.” My main thought was to pick colors that I thought would look nice together.

The first thing I noticed was that a little sandwich baggie of worms didn’t cover as much area as I thought it would. I had to start grabbing different colors to fill in areas that I had thought would be filled with something else. I told myself that that didn’t matter, and in fact that was what a scrappy rug was all about! My method of storing the worms was getting confusing too. My tote was filled with open sandwich baggies, each holding a different cut wool. Not only was it hard to see what I really had, it was aggravating to rummage through so many bags. It was time to sort.

My hubby, Matt, deserves an award for putting up with all my strange antics. We had been calmly sitting on the loveseat watching a movie while I hooked. Suddenly, I burst out, “This is crazy. I can’t work this way!” Grabbing a baggie by the bottom, I flung the wool out of it and onto the floor. “Feel free to help if you want,” I smiled, and before we knew it the entire family room floor was full of brightly colored piles of worms. The movie was forgotten as we did the more important task of sorting worms into colors rather than by type of wool.

There was a bit of discussion at this point when I told him that I had heard that some hookers sorted worms by value rather than color. Should I do it that way? At that moment, however, I wasn’t ready for that sort of commitment. Sorting by value sounded like a lot of decision making. Also, I had a feeling that in this piece I would want to grab a color rather than a value. Soon, we had lovely piles of colors and used just a few bags. I already felt better.

The heart was finished and I started working on the arced shape below it. Yellow triangles filled the linen. I found that I didn’t just put my hand in the yellow bag and use whatever I pulled out. Instead, I would use a bit of the bright yellow, than something duller, finally something darker. The interplay of the values and tones intrigued me. I created a depth that I wouldn’t have been able to pull off with just one or two different wools.

The doodle in the upper right hand corner received a bit of criticism. Dear hubby commented that it reminded him of an amoeba. Well, I couldn’t have that! So, the amoeba morphed into a flower. I determined to use each color in several parts of the rug to help the viewer’s eye to travel across the piece. So, yellow appeared in the center of the new flower. It looked like I had a lot of blue, so I used that in the petals. Here I ran into a bit of trouble. Maybe I was planning too much and not really following “Scrappy Rug Rules,” if there are such things. I didn’t have enough of the one blue wool to finish the flower petals. After contemplating using a different color on the two petals, I broke down and cut three strips of the blue. I felt like I had broken the rules, but quickly got over that and reminded myself that it was my project and therefore MY rules!

Matt, my ever-present help and art critic, kept leaning over and asking what I was going to do next. Was I going to use such and such color? What was my plan for such and such area of the rug? What was my underlying design thought? But I kept saying, “I don’t know. Whatever happens.” It was driving my engineer husband crazy, but I loved the freedom! Every time he had questions, I reminded myself that the purpose of this project was to use up worms. It didn’t have to be a masterpiece. In fact, it didn’t even have to look good—I could put it on the floor in the laundry room, if I didn’t like it. It was my NO STRESS piece. My do-whatever-came-to-mind-at-the-time rug. Matt tried to embrace the thought and began singing, “Que sera, sera . . . whatever will be, will be.”

I noticed as I progressed through the piece that I loosened up and was able to use colors more liberally. No sticking to one color in that feather. My favorite section was the circles in the lower left corner. There I focused more on value than color and made sure if I used a light piece that the next one would be dark.

Rather than filling the background with all neutral tones, I drew squiggles and triangles and filled them with color. I added three little fishes to swim around in the happy-scrappy mayhem.

This piece showed me that I didn’t have as many worms as I thought. Yes, the 27″ x 22″ mat was done with almost all precut strips. But I found myself saying things like, “This is a scrappy piece, so I can’t cut anything for it. I know! I’ll work on another unfinished rug and accidently cut too much wool!” And then there was when I said, “I had some scraps—they just weren’t cut into strips yet,” for the background. (I actually don’t remember saying these things, but Matt found it all amusing and wrote them down in my notes.)

At one point, I wished I was able to attend a hook-in and beg for worms from each person attending. I thought it would be fun to introduce colors and textures that weren’t in my limited stash. But at the end, I realized that my scrappy rug worked out so well because they were all colors and textures that I had chosen. Even though at times I thought I was using a worm that might end up sticking out like a sore thumb, it all melded together in a beautiful color fantasy.

Have you done a scrappy rug? Are those worms multiplying? Don’t be intimidated: plunge in and try something new. Draw some simple shapes. Grab some worms. It would be a fun project with a group too, sharing scraps with each other. Remember to just hook, no worries!

Funky Scrappy was another learning project for me. Even though I told myself that it might just look like a big mess and I wouldn’t want to show it to anyone, I was thrilled with the end product. And it was definitely the most relaxing piece I have done yet. It makes me want to fill up my worm tote again. Maybe even on purpose.