Rug hooking: yarn or fabric?

A few weeks ago, I posted about starting a hit or miss kind of rug with odds and ends of hand spun wool yarns I deemed tough enough to be rug-worthy.  I had some questions about using wool yarn instead of wool fabric, but turned up little in my brief search on the internet...so I purchased Judy Taylor's updated edition of Joy of Hooking with Yarn.

While I'm waiting for a lightning bolt of design inspiration to hit me, I've been plying skeins of singles into two and four ply yarns to use in whatever this next rug will be.  One day, while peddling my little heart out at the wheel, I had a minor epiphany:  why the heck am I buying wool yardage to cut into strips when I am about buried in wool and wool yarns?  Hmmmm...well...maybe because my first and only attempt at hooking with yarn left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.  Maybe because I feel like it will take longer (not a valid excuse in my book)?  Maybe because I've not been particularly inspired by the pieces I've seen, so far, hooked with yarns?  Maybe I like the look of rugs hooked with wool strips better than those hooked with yarns?  Or, as my new hooking friend Andy mentioned, am I a wool snob of some sort???

So that's what's been on my mind, while I've been busy packing up the last of the mess that's moving home from the former yarn shop, or pulling some weeds here and there, which is somehow therapeutic.

What do you think???

Pondering

I saw a posting on May 31 by Tammy at Skip to My Ewe.  She is selling a lot of her hooked rugs and by way of explanation, said something that really hit home:

  "...I form a vision in my mind of what I want it (her rug hooking room) to look like, and then I have to start getting rid of everything that is not in that vision."

Riley:  she has no clutter concerns

I have had this rolling around in my head for days since.  It's how I've been feeling about my home, my stash, my overload of equipment.  I've decided to keep marinating on this until I can get my vision to be more clear and then take more actions.  I feel like the clutter is smothering me.  In fact, I just Googled on "signs about clutter", thinking I'd have some cute graphic to post here, and came up with this page instead.  Very interesting, and worth consideration.

Just thought I'd share that with you in case it's something that's on your mind as well...something along the lines of spring cleaning for your head. 

And then...there was more wool

Fiber coming home, the first wave

When I was at home in NM this winter, I worked hard to get my yarn, spinning fibers, rug hooking supplies, knitting books, magazines, etc. weeded out and stored in such a way that you could actually walk without risking life and limb.  I was so proud of myself; it was the crescendo of two years' worth of work.  I was especially psyched because it meant when I returned in the spring, I could start hooking a new rug and finish some UFOs I unearthed during my hard work.

You'd think by this age I would have learned that one should not be smug about such things, let alone brag about them out loud to anyone.  The universe has decided to smack me in the fanny with another project, far more daunting than the one I had worked on those years:  as previously mentioned, our lease is up on the retail space in Seco and we're having to find places to stash all that has been there.  This includes a lot of furniture, the display cabinets, my monster loom, and unspeakable quantities of spinning fiber and yarn.  I have been checking with my closest friends for assurance that I'm not a hoarder, and as good friends should, they've assured me I'm not.  Maybe a well prepared pack rat?

On a lighter note, the lilacs are starting to bloom.  We thought they had been frozen as they were last year.  I'm excited to be able to enjoy them...it's been a few years.