Getting off square one is always the most difficult part of a job.  Since I promised in my July Newsletter that I would have progress on the designing of a custom “Monet” rya kit order for Bill, I am happy to say it’s happening before I write the August Newsletter.

Bill wants a horizontal rya for a wall hanging behind his bed: 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide approximately.  He wants it to have the general “feel” of Monet’s Bridge over the Water Lily Pond, but not have it look like it’s supposed to BE the painting.  So my goal is to design a colorful abstraction of Monet’s bridge on graph paper with a yarn color chart for him to follow.  Here is my progress of the day:

I selected the most appropriate backing for the size.  It is 34.5″ wide.  Two stitched side by side will be almost 6′ wide.  Perfect.  So I cut it to be 4′ long with an extra several inches to allow for a hem.  Both pieces have to have the exact same number of knotting rows so they match up when stitched together.  (Notice that my grandmother–founder of Lundgren Rya–is watching over my shoulder.)

Then comes the hemming with my sturdy old Singer.  I zigzag the cut edge so it won’t fray as I handle it, then fold two rows over, zigzag them together, then straight stitch twice to be sure the hem is stable and permanently locked closed.For Bill I am making a nice open hem on the top so he can slide a rod for hanging through the tunnel.  It will keep the rya wall hanging nice and straight.Now both backings are hemmed and ready.  Time to prepare the graph paper.  Luckily, this graph paper was designed for this backing.  There are 84 squares across the bottom of the paper and 84 knots will be made across the bottom of the rya. (Coincidence?) There are 82 rows (see those stripes?) in a 4′ backing.  So watch how I adapt the graph paper…I folded the center margins back so the graph lines match up perfectly.  I also cut the top off the graph paper and folded an inch of paper down for a white border…just for the heck of it. Now the graph paper is ready for the design.  AND I am ready to jump in for the fun part.  Stay tuned.  I’m going to be working on this tomorrow.  Any questions?