A New Use For The Stash

Now don't laugh.  I still have a latch hook tool for making those rugs we all worked on a few decades ago.  That craze, however, was not my first attempt at hooking a rug.  Several women in my family made hooked rugs or pillow tops. 

 I remember Mama cutting strips of wool or felt and little me winding it into balls.  The last piece that Mama made is a cherished pillow top that still graces the yarn studio.

Here is her pillow.  Over forty years old and still going strong.  This is done by pulling up loops of wool to the right side of the work.  It is a different working process from the new method that I learned.

That's right - something new for this old brain.  And I get to use up stash yarn in the process.

Here is my first effort at rug punching.  In this method, a special tool is used to punch from the back of the work.  The tool makes uniform depth loops on the right side of the work.

I learned from Una Walker, she of Wooly Walkers fame.  Click over and see some of her great work.  Una is also a shoe maker - great video on her site about how to make felted top shoes.

The base of my mug mat is monk cloth, which folds up flat and does not take up much space in the stash "area."  A few punch tools will slip easily into the "other supplies" bin and I plan to start with small hoops rather than a large one. 

A few new supplies that easily hide away, a new use for the yarn stash, and my time is now wasted looking for ideas in the great wide world of Google.