Khotan No.25 Miniature Carpet

This is the Khotan No.25 miniature carpet from Meik and Ian McNaughton's wonderful book Making Miniature Oriental Rugs and Carpets.  I started this all the way back in August, as it happens.  It has been almost finished for quite a long time, but I ran out of one of the colors and had to wait for another skein, and I didn't block it very well the first time and had to do it again, just at the last before I sewed down the hem.

I still didn't get it quite true, so I need to be sure to block a piece really severely before working the edging next time.

This was actually a very tricky chart, and it took me some time to stop confusing the colors in those stepped medallions!  The wools themselves had a little more difference between them, luckily.

I noticed not very far into working it that the colors in the photograph of the finished carpet were noticeably different from what was in my hands, and so I decided after some internal debate to change the background of the center section from the lightest wheat-colored shade to a cream in my stash.  Unfortunately what looked like cream in the ball turned out to be putty (Appleton's 988, left over from the Holbein carpet), so the finished carpet looks neither like the original colors should nor the slightly-off illustration in the book, though it is not unpleasant, to be sure.  I just think the putty doesn't play quite as well with the wheat of the border as I had hoped.

I also switched out the "dark" wheat-ish shade (903) for the medium one (766) on the border -- the 903 is quite auburn, and I liked the more-brown one better.  By the way, this is how far you can get with one skein of each color --

so I would recommend two skeins of the 766, certainly if you are going to use it for the border instead of 903.  (This photo shows that I was going to use the "hemming row" trick, but after working the Wm. Morris one, I realized that the finer gauge on this carpet would make it considerably trickier, and as I'd already decided that the hemming row isn't really necessary with an edging stitch, I went ahead and worked it without hemming.)

I managed the McNaughtons' edging stitch much better this time, though I think it doesn't have quite the same handsome braided look that the long-legged cross-stitch does, as the "braid" is nearly on the underside.

I did work the fringe a smidge too short -- it's like cutting your hair, that when you smooth it down you think "there!" and after you cut it, it bounces back a little, so I need to be sure and keep this in mind with a wool fringe!  This is two strands of wool, without "fluffing" the strands with a pin afterwards.

The finished measurements on 28-count Monaco canvas are 6 1/4 in. x 3 1/2 in. (16cm x 8.75cm), not counting the fringe.

The McNaughtons write of this 20th-century design, "The carpets of East Turkestan, now part of the Chinese province of Sinkiang, show some Chinese influence in their decoration, including the use of muted colours, as in this example. The details of the design, however, show a clear relationship with both the Caucasus and Anatolia in the geometric stars and the decorative Kufic border."  I can read neither Kufic nor Chinese, but the border pattern has a strongly Chinese look to me! so it's fascinating how it manages to convey both at the same time.

Comments

[Mary Lou]

Oh dear, I hope there isn't a dye lot issue like in knitting...thanks for the 12 Days and best wishes for the New Year!

[Susan D]

Excellent work. I understand all too well the reality of "almost finished for quite a long time."