Swug Genesis

Thanksgiving Morning
Today is a great day to look back and give thanks for everything. In looking back, I thought to memorialize how the swugs got started.

Kid Curt
In January 2010, Curt wanted to start making something. He rummaged through his collection of craft skills and recalled rug making as early as when he 7 or 8 years old. We still own a latch hook rug project from Curt's preteens of the Zodiac. Curt expressed an interest in making rugs again.

Latch hook rugs are cool, but to me they look kind of sloppy. The design is buried under the long, loose yarns.

Rug Construction Types
We discussed the idea of Curt taking up rug making and cast about for other construction methods. We considered everything from braided rag rugs to Navajo vertical loom weaving. Both of us were drawn to rug punching. Rug punching was fairly speedy and the designs of the rugs were cleaner. We put rug punching at the top of the list.

Oxford Company
We researched rug punching on the Web. We looked at various sites. The site we like the most was the Oxford Company. The site was great! It had lots of photos, clear instructions, and a new tool. The founder, Amy Oxford, designed her own punch needle and sold them.

http://www.amyoxford.com/

We saw the punch needle tool offered on the site and other reputable online yarn stores, too. We also saw that Ms. Oxford wrote "The Bible" of Rug Punching. So, we purchased one of the needles and the book.

Setting Up Shop
We both read the "Punch Needle Rug Hooking" from stem to stern. The book included instructions on constructing a frame, what type of canvas to use, and all the punching techniques including an excellent instruction on fixing goofs. We bought the supplies and I made the frame, purchased the canvas, stretched the canvas, and transferred the first design. We were ready! Wait...what about the yarn?

Upcycled Yarns
I used eBay to research yarns. My word! Yarn was EXPENSIVE. Ms. Oxford estimates that a 4 ounce skein would cover about the size of your hand with fingers separated. <GULP>. My research had the average cost of a 4 ounce skein cost was about $9.00 / 4 ounce skein. <DOUBLE GULP>.

While searching for yarn, I noted that one enterprising eBay seller was selling 'upcycled' yarns. The seller unraveled pre-existing sweaters, wound the yarn into skeins, and sold the whole lot for a very reasonable price. I thought, "I could do that!"

I purchased a yarn winder and a couple of sweaters. That was a deep learning curve, I can tell you! I never really looked at the construction of a sweater. I didn't know what 'fully fashioned', 'chain stitch construction', or that some sweaters are serged! I eventually got the hang of selecting the appropriate sweaters.

Upcycled yarns are more economical that new yarns. I am able to purchase a used sweater at one of local thrift stores for under $5.00 each. A sweater typically yields about 10 4 ounces skeins. I think that comes out to $0.50 / 4 ounces skein. Now we're cooking with gas!

Coming Together
Our friend, Hedge, was the one who came up with the "swug" name. He squished the 2 words sweater and rug together. Clever guy!

So, with the knowledge gleaned from the Oxford book, the punch needle, and the upcycled yarns, we got off on a great footing!

We give happy thanks to all the generous people in our lives!

LJ