Ask the Experts: From Scraps to Stars

Scraps #1072, 24" x 36", #3-cut wool on burlap. Designed by Jane McGown Flynn and hooked by Amzi Collins, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 2015. #1072, 24" x 36", #3-cut wool on burlap. Designed by Jane McGown Flynn and hooked by Amzi Collins, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 2015.

During the clean-out of my wool room, I accumulated large piles of #3-cut strips of wool left over from my parents’ rugs and my rugs, and I put them in large tubs to be dealt with later. The tubs continued to multiply, and I had no real idea what to do with all this cut wool. I just knew I did not want to throw it out.

One day, I dumped one tub at a time onto an old sheet. I made myself comfortable on a stool and started picking. First I picked out old sorters, rusty pins of all types, paper towel sorters, small and large plastic bags, paper clips, rubber bands.. . You name it, and it was in there! I even found my mother’s and her friends’ notes and dye formulas written on cards, napkins, or whatever they had handy.

After cleaning the junk out of the wool, I started sorting it into light, bright, dark, and dull piles. I ended up with at least four bags of each shade. I also started a few bags for larger cuts. As I sorted this wool, I remembered the rugs hooked by my parents and me, which brought back fond memories of watching my parents hook. From these piles, I hooked Scraps.

This article is from the January/February 2016 issue. For more information on our issue, check out our issue page.