Under The Burled Arch

Chocula Chip and I had a great Iknitarod!  Not only did I finally learn the basics of punch needle rug making, but we also made a bonus rug with our leftover time and material :-). 

I didn't have enough Cotswold yarn left so I pulled out a skein of the original Lamb Camp yarn and picked out my colors and pulled out the dye pots.

I was curious to try that yarn as it is a different type of wool.  Cotswold is long, curly, smooth and shiny.  Wool from Texel crosses is a little shorter and the crimp is tighter and more fuzzy than smooth.  It has some luster/shine, but definitely more matte.

I really liked both yarns, but, as a beginner, found the Texel cross yarn to be a bit easier to work with, from the dye pots to the punching.  

I wanted to draw the second rug (left) with similar sized sheep and shepherd and I love the pattern I came up with.  I am going to draw this again, but for a larger rug so I can practice adding more detail...and also more sheep ;-).  If it works out okay, I may add the pattern to the farm shop in case anyone else would like to give it a try with their own sheep.

Overall, I found this project to be much easier than I thought it might be and just as much fun as I'd hoped.  I can't wait to start my next one!  Big thanks to Robin for all her help and encouragement along the way.  She and Andy have all the basic supplies if you are interested.