Rug Hooking Diary... Part I

Increasingly, my rug hooking customers are asking me to put together rug hooking kits for the patterns I offer on my website. I'm honored that they trust me with this task but, I confess, I also stress over the process....will they like the colors I'm sending, have I put in enough variety of wool, enough wool, is this color going to work? ....I could go on & on!
While it's impossible for me to hook a rug from every kit that I put together, I've decided to use my kits to hook a couple of patterns that have been on my to-do list for awhile just to see how they come together & I thought it would be fun to share the process with you.
So here's my start on the first project.... it's a delightful Primitive Spirit design, Simple Gifts. This is a fun and very primitive design inspired by antique Magdalena Briner designs. You can click on the picture if you want to see more detail.
One thing to notice about my progress so far...you may not be able to see it in the photo but the border edge of the pattern was a little wonky (read: not on the straight of grain). I'm a bit obsessive about having the outer border be on grain so the first thing I did was to hook a single line of loops, on-grain, at the outer border. I may change the color later but wanted to at least have the placement of the line established.

I'll do my best to keep you posted on my progress!