Adventures in Rug Hooking

It was the summer of 1991 in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia when I was first introduced to rug hooking. With the hopes of making my own rug one day, I returned home with a little inspiration, a small mat made from fine wool yarn and a tiny hook.

One day came  in 1994 the year I signed up for a rug hooking class. Thirteen lessons for $65.00 and $100.00 for materials which included a pre-stamped pattern on burlap backing, a hook and pre-cut wool fabric strips. I worked on my rug over a 17 month period and spent a total of 200 hours hooking it.

When Anne, from Anne's Original Hooked Rugs posted a comment on my blog earlier last year that started me thinking about rug hooking again. I decided if it was still on my mind come fall, I would look into making another rug.  It was still on my mind and so began with a trip to the library where I checked out every book on rug hooking, all great reads.   One book, Basic Rug Hooking, by Alice Beatty and Mary Sargent I ordered for my personal library. I did purchase a few other books and will tell you more about them later.

Between the internet and reading books my head is spinning with so much information, I need to compile all I have learned for future reference. 

Frugal is the way I would like to go about rug hooking, but at first there is some expense.  New wool fabric is pricey, but an option is to recycle old wool and one that many rug hookers choose. I love the look of wool yarn hooked rugs and am leaning that way right now, but I also love the look of primitive rugs using 1/4 inch wide wool fabric strips.  I have seen the two mixed together with wonderful results and can see myself doing that to.

A decision has been made on the wool yarns I will be using and I even started my search for recycled wool fabric, with excellent results.  And, I am very excited about learning to dye wool.  Backing fabric has arrived and I have also added a couple of hooks to my collection.  But, what has been the most fun so far is time spent in the wood shop building a few rug hooking accessories.  I'm very pleased, wait till you see!

Also, before Christmas, I did order some new wool fabric (for dyeing) and binding tape to take advantage of a free shipping offer.  And, for Christmas, my sister brought me some nice white wool fabric and Cushing dyes to try, along with a big bag full of beautiful wool yarns.  I was planning to cut all my fabric strips by scissor, like the old days, but my sister is also interested in trying rug hooking and cutting by scissor is not her idea of fun, so she decided to order a Fraser 500-1 Strip Cutter.

So, once I compile my notebook of information, I will be ready to make my second rug, a new, old adventure that I'm sure to enjoy as much as quilting and stitchery.

Until next time.....happy New Year!

Karen