Guest Author - Iris ten Holder

Once you have a theme, you can keep on creating without having to duplicate. Take the autumn rug with orange, yellow, brown and white colors.

I just finished the third rug with this theme. Although I used the same colors, the rugs are distinctly different. One is predominantly red, orange, brown and white in distinctive stripes; the second one has more mixed colors and thus looks less bright with a tweed effect. The third rug looks even tweedier and has a very muted appearance. In all three the brown yarn was used for the accented lines, resembling trees in an abstract way. Using the ends of the threads fringed the third rug. In all three, one half of the rug was dark, the other half light as I had not only the autumn colors in mind, but the sunset as well.

Do not hesitate to experiment while you are working on the rug. Working with available yarn that is left over from previous endeavors can present some challenges and lead to interesting combinations. As I wrote in Yarn Magic, the effect of combining colors is to give a textured, sometimes velvety or sometimes tweedy look. The velvety look occurs when colors are very close both in tone and in color. The tweed effect occurs when colors are quite different.

Create new colors by combining contrasting yarns, such as red with yellow to make orange, blue with yellow to get a greenish glow, red with blue for a purple sheen. Use combinations of light and dark colors to achieve a tweedy look. A rug can be made totally in tweed design, alternating lighter and darker combinations in the various segments.

It is rewarding to create while working. In that case it is mandatory to have some guidelines (your own) and a certain order in the segments and the divisions within the segments

When the segments have different colors, maintain the same order within the segments throughout the rug. Not that this rule could not be broken, but it is good to have the rule and then be required to have a good reason for making changes.

You might start out a rug intending to have light and dark segments that are alternating, but you could vary the rate at which they alternate throughout the rug, allowing for two light segments, or three between the dark ones. This will produce some unpredictability in the appearance of the rug, yet the basic rule of alternating light and dark helps you decide the order in which to proceed.

Another way is to work progressively towards a darker or a lighter area. I like to think of the light of the sun, or the sunset, or shadows in a forest with light flowing between the trees. It gives you an excuse to do almost anything; yet the theme will keep you in check and consistent in the design.

Knit to your heart's content, celebrating the beautiful colors of fall. If you love snow and feel the need to add a winter-like element, add some more white to your design.

For northerners, winter is really coming soon. Let these colors inspire you: cool blue and white for snow, deep blue for wonderful winter skies, and dark brown for whatever is left of the trees. You could again add a sunset in a few sections if you wish.

Paint with yarn, and join the ranks of fibre artists.

Bold designs for Round Accent Rugs