In anticipation of the International Rug Rave (a simultaneous, world wide  event  on November 21, being carried out to draw attention to Heather Ritchie’s work with the blind in Gambia) I decided to do a bit of experimentation last night.  After all, since I am coordinating the Orange County California participants who wish to participate on that day, it is important that I not appear  as the blind leading the blind.

At the OC site, we will be doing things a bit differently than they do in Gambia.  Since Heather does not have frames for her students, they hook on hemmed burlap.  We, however, are going to use frames as it will probably be humiliating enough just to hook blindfolded!

blind1

As the hem gives the Gambians an edge from which to work, I felt like it was acceptable to hook a row around the edge of the  primitive linen backing before I started.  Several scrap pieces of wool were cut ahead of time (it’s a sightless hooking experience not a sightless cutting experience) and stored in a swatch sorter.

When it came time to hook, my blindfold was duly applied.  I could not see a thing.  Once things went dark, it suddenly dawned on me that I could not remember which colors were in each sorter, nor could I tell the difference.  Without benefit of color choice or a pattern to guide me I was hit with the realization:  OK, now what do I do? A cat’s paw seemed to be a good initial choice.  I used the colors in one sorter for the paw – randomly picking different worms, but having no idea how they went together.  My concern was focused on hooking something that was as round as I could make it, with loops as uniform as I could do.

After a few loops it became obvious to me that my thumb, which is usually pretty much a subordinate character, suddenly found something important to do when hooking.  After each loop was pulled, it was the thumb that went down to find the next place for the hook to go.  (This is yet another reason to palm a hook.)    The thumb was my rug hooking white cane. The real bear, for me, was trying to use my scissors to cut  when I finished a strip or  section.  That was a true leap of faith.

When it came time to do the background, strips were pulled from sorter number 2.  While I purposely chose wool from various differnet sections for the cat’s paw, I only pulled wool from the same sorter section for the background.  I had no idea what color it was – just knew that I wanted it the same.  As it worked out, by accident, it was the dark green wool worms that had been over-dyed a few weeks ago on a blog post about dyeing cut worms.  All told, I worked about 15 mins. to do this much -

blind2

Not my best cat’s paw … but one of which, nevertheless, I am proud.   It is more of a cat’s amoeba.

blind3

You can see, with this side shot, that I had real trouble with pulling loops of  uniform height.  However, the longer I went, the better I got.  Of course, having the hooked edge as a measuring device did make a difference.  With concentration and practice I am sure things would improve.  This short session was enough to give me confidence in the process and motivate me to get some more wool blindfolds dyed.  At the OCC guild meeting, on November 21, participates who wish to keep their wool blindfold can do so by making a donation, which I will pass on to Rug Aid, Heather’s charity.  Anyone can participate in the Rug Rave regardless of where they live.  If nothing else, you can put a pillow case on your head and follow the steps I outlined in today’s post.  It would probably be more fun, however, to invite a few friends over … which would also be an excuse to bake a pie – always a good idea.  For more information about Rug Aid, making a secure donation to Rug Aid or the International Rug Rave, Google Rug Aid.