A Soft Place To Sit

Over the weekend I took a class at Stone's Throw Artisans. Ann Brown came in to teach how to make her wonderful braided roving rugs. Our class project was a chair pad and we could either bring our own roving (clean wool combed into long rope-like strips) or purchase some from her or Stone's Throw. I brought Emily's fleece.


While the Jacob's look like they are brown and white at shearing time, they are actually black and white under the sun bleached tips. By combining different amounts of each color, you can create a wide range of beautiful silvers to dark pewter and, of course, black or white.

In the morning we prepared our braids. Ann worked some felting magic during the lunch break and we returned to assemble our mini rugs that afternoon. Everyones rug turned out just perfect and it was fun to see how the colors played out in each design.


Ann and her friend Letty Klein have written a wonderful book "The Shepherd's Rug, A Braided Wool Rug from Roving" (sorry - can't figure out how to underline :-/). Not only do they teach their techniques, but also provide good general information and beautiful color photographs of rugs made from several different types of wool for inspiration. I'm sure you can find it on Amazon, but remember to always look first at your local yarn store. You won't be disappointed.