FEBRUARY 2026
TIP OF THE MONTH
Close up view of Robin's "puddling"
Robin Medina started off her presentation by asking herself why she hadn't taken a class from Katie Allman sooner...they're good friends so why not take a class from her. Katie taught an open class in January and Robin stated that taking a class from Katie was a totally different experience than if they were sitting together at guild hooking and visiting.
Robin said she learned so much from Katie's lecture and demonstrations that she hadn't known before. One such technique was called "puddling". This technique was used in Katie's "Immanuel"rug design. The clouds in the background tend to overlap with various puddles of blue values. Robin said she used five values of blue for her sky: 1 light, 2 medium, 1 dark and 1 that's really dark.
The term "Puddling" in rug hooking, is a background technique where you would hook a dark patch here and there, repeat the same idea with the lightest value and fill in the remaining background with two medium values of the same hue (color).
​If you look at the sky in Robin's rug, the clouds are not drawn to align across the sky...they're randomly placed. Check out Katie's rug sampler below.
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The original pattern "Russell Crow"
designed by Jan Adams Woolens
Robin wants to redo her sky in her "Russell Crow" rug with Katie's "puddling" technique.
She began this rug in a class with Gail Dufresne.
Another background technique is known as "Echoing" where the artist hooks rows of wool that follow, or "echo," the outline of the main subject or motif. By repeating this outline, it creates a halo or concentric ring effect, often used to make the central design stand out, define shapes, or add depth to a finished rug. Check out the examples of echoing below.
