My Journey Hooking Rugs
My latest rug. I put my slippered feet into the photo so you can see the size (of the rug…not my feet 🦶🤪).
I was introduced to hooking in Deep River when I moved here over six years ago . The Happy Hookers of the Deep meet every second Tuesday to chat, snack, and stab fabrics and yarn—hence the name.
Hooking feels like painting with wool: pick a colour and pull it through a design. Corrections are easier to correct than watercolour painting. All you need to do is rip out a row and start over. I have been known to do this many times. Once I ripped out a whole sky that I had done in blues and replaced it with yellow yarns.
I started out hooking rugs with smelly burlap and an old hoop, just like our ancestors did. Things have changed since our ancestors used an old burlap feed bag and worn out clothes to hook. I purchased a gripper frame and upgraded to a special kind of linen that doesn’t smell but has the perfect sized holes for hooking. It holds the linen tight and was perfect for taking projects to my Tuesday get togethers.
My gripper frame with piles of yarns in the background.
I eventually splurged on a Cheticamp frame for big pieces. Now my hooks pull wools, yarns, sari silks, strings, and anything else that whispers “pull me”.
My Cheticamp frame with my current design that I’m working on.
Want to know more about the Cheticamp Frame. Check out this post by Deanne Fitzpatrick. Deanne Fitzpatrick is the guru of rug hooking. Her studio is in Amherst Nova Scotia. If you are interested in rug hooking you have to check out her website or pop into her studio.
Here are some of the wools, yarns and other things I have in my kitchen/rug hooking studio. Old woollen clothing from skirts and kilts, yarns, sari silk strips, shiny strings of fibre, hand made yarns (the one in the photo was made by a weaver in Deep River), dyed panty hose and a piece of velvet. One of the hookers in our Tuesday club hooks mostly with cut up t-shirts!!!
This is the linen I hook on and a piece of natural coloured woollen fabric. I sometimes like to dye my own wool. I bought this kit to dye my fabrics with the primary colours and black.
Here are just some of the rugs I have hooked since moving to Deep River. Some are floor rugs, some hang on the wall , some are for chairs and others are just for fun to hook then are stacked away.
I was in Costco the other day and what should I spy but a pile of “hooked” rugs….for $20 bucks!!!! Yes, they are made in India and yes they are not hand hooked but 20 BUCKS????
I pay almost $50 for a metre of linen to hook on, the hooks themselves cost anywhere from $20 to $50. Yarns and wools can sometimes be found at Value Village or even the Dollarama but they add up if you like some in every colour like I do. I also like to support local so will buy a beautiful skien of hand woven wool. And lets consider the time involved in hooking a design. I worked on the one I just completed off and on for over a year. There must have been at least 50 hours that went into cutting the wools then pulling them through the holes in the linen.
These are the 2 Costco “hooked” rugs that I purchased. They have foam backing and are comfortable to stand on in front of the sink, like those anti-fatigue rugs.
Do you know what this is called? It’s called a basket of worms. All the unused pieces of yarns and wools are collected and waiting to be used when you just need a dab of colour somewhere.
