Gray Floral Handwoven Wool Rug, Mihman Series

Mihman is the Turkish word for a guest, and the series keeps the name untranslated. The rug is handwoven in Afghanistan: a 100% wool surface over a foundation of cotton with a trace of synthetic yarn in it, gray, drawn with flowers in the authentic register rather than the modern one. The fiber declaration is worth reading twice, because most sellers would not print it.

01What the yarn is

The pile you walk on is wool and nothing else. The skeleton underneath — the warp and weft holding the rug square — is cotton, with a little synthetic thread blended in for strength. That is a normal and sensible construction, and the house states it rather than rounding the whole rug up to natural. Gray is not the usual ground for Afghan floral work, which runs more often to madder red and dark blue, and it changes what the pattern does: the flowers stop reading as a traditional field and start reading as drawing.

02From ground to pile

Wool at this weight is warm underfoot and heavy enough to lie flat in a doorway without curling at the corners. It is a small piece — an entrance, a study, the side of a bed. Professional washing. Handwoven in Afghanistan. The surface is 100% wool; underneath, cotton carries a trace of synthetic thread. Gray ground with a floral drawing in the authentic register. Wool weight keeps it flat in a doorway without an underlay. A small piece — entrance, study or bedside. Professional washing. Mihman means guest in Turkish; the series name is not translated. Why is there a synthetic yarn in the foundation of a wool rug? The foundation is the warp and weft that the pile is worked onto, and it takes all of the tension.

03How it feels underfoot

A small proportion of synthetic thread blended with the cotton adds tensile strength there, so the rug keeps its shape. The surface you walk on stays entirely wool. The best sentence on this page is the one about the synthetic thread, and it was the house that wrote it.