I think the issue is that I did my typical stuff: using quick intuition versus taking steps to carefully calculate wool color choices for this rug. Sometimes I can get away with doing this - working entirely by intuition - and get great results. That's how the 5' by 3' Magdalena Menagerie pattern came together. And for such a big rug, it proves my intuition is spot-on sometimes. I love when this happens and it feels like I'm in a groove of divine bliss when it works! When it doesn't, it cause me lots of fits and fury!
I should have started by choosing several colors for the hit and miss sections that look good together and build enough contrast between colorways. Instead, I'm trying to use bits and pieces of wool that are quickly at hand in my miscellaneous worms pile. It's proving to be a lot of colors I don't like once they are hooked.
Parts of the leaf have been reworked about four or more times. I want some red in the rug, but I don't really like red! So I found a small piece of a deep rust wool in my stash and I like it very much, but it won't last through the whole rug, so now I'm back to adding some narrow cuts of red. The green/beige color around the cats is intended to be a place where your eyes can rest. The color choice for this area is based on some wool I marbleized to create colors similar to the famous Magdalena Crows with Dog rug that has a teal green overtone to much of the area around the leaf and crows.
I am sure it will all work out, but it's not going smoothly yet. I do still like the pattern, but I don't like some of my colors. So it's a day by day process of filling in and reverse hooking!
Hope you are all well and happy! Kathy
