As all our projects, this one began innocently when Linda decided that it was finally time to get new carpet. After checking into every type of carpet sold in Austin, we were unable to agree on a new course of action. So we tried a different tack, putting in fake wood floors to replace the carpet and getting a new Persian rug to go on it.

Of course, you can't buy just one rug. We wound up trading several in to Mr. Kaska buying some new ones. The one pictured is our favorite. Not only is it unique -- since the tribe that made it probably no longer exists -- but it also displays incredible weaving skill with an almost fractal complexity. The more you look at it, the more you see in it.

Marks along the side record the progress of the weaving. There are 93 such marks. We don't know what they represent: weeks perhaps, or maybe some irregular interval when the weaver received a new allotment of wool. Regardless, we know that someone took a long time and a great deal of effort to produce a remarkable work of art.

Jim likes to imagine that the weaver realized it would be the last one he ever created and put everything he could think of into it.