www.littlehouserugs.com
Creating Heirlooms
Featured Rug of the Month
December 2008
Love Knot, 48"x52"
Wool yarn on linen
Designed and hooked by Judy Taylor
Poem by Mark Peter Ford, 1952-1970
The lover lives in a small world where love is the
Moving force.
Why tell him life is not as good as it could be?
Heartbreak is the only tender hold we have on innocence
And if he should never come to the realization
That the universe is heartless, is that a loss?
We boast of knowing the "facts of life" but is
It not we who have lost them?
The universe would continue to hiss and clank
Should love leave it
But it is a hopeless task
To make him believe it.
I will not promise to love forever
(Unless man does live forever)
But I do promise to love you as long as I am.
The story of the making of this rug is long and complicated.
For many rug hookers, the idea of selling ones rugs is hard to understand, but I do sell my rugs, gladly, and when a popular design sells, I feel that I should make another one, so I can continue to attract people to come into my booth. But this always presents a dilemna: how can I challenge myself to make the design, but so different from the last time so that I will still feel inspired?
I've actually made this design twice already, so contemplating making a third was difficult. I have always called the design "Celtic Knot," but I know that many people refer to this kind of interlace design as a "love knot." That got me thinking about love poems, and the inscribed bed covers of the 1700's, which would often be hooked with poetry, bible sayings, or aphorisms incorporated into the design. From there my mind went to one of my favorite love poems, written by my brother Mark, who died when he was only eighteen. He wrote many brilliant poems, and I have loved them all my life, so the idea of inscribing a rug with one of Mark's poems gave me just the inspiration I needed.
I drew out my pattern on linen, then I wrote each word of the poem on a piece of masking tape, and started placing them along one of the "ribbons," until I was able to spread all the writing out so the poem would begin again as soon as you got to the end.
It took me about 4 months to hook the rug, (although I must say that I hooked three other small rugs in the same time!) and the closer I got to finishing it, I found I didn't want to look at it full on. I was nervous about the writing, whether it would be legible. I think I was trying to see the lettering fresh, when the background was hooked and finished, so I could make an honest judgement as whether I could really read the words.
A few years ago, I interviewed my family and some of Mark's friends, and wrote up a biography of his short life. If there are any of you out in cyberspace who are involved in publishing poetry, please let me know if you would consider publishing the manuscript, with the hundreds of beautiful poems he wrote.
Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website? Let me know! It can be a rug you made, inherited, found, whatever! All rugs have a story to tell, and we love to hear them. If your rug gets featured, you will get your choice of a free yard of linen, or a lavender back pillow, so send me your pictures!
To view the dozens of rugs that have already been featured on this site, visit the archive!
If you would like to try hooking this rug, click here!
If you would like to order the finished rug, click here!
