Rug Hooking

[susank]

Has anyone tried this? I saw a beautiful hooked rug in a quilt shop and they are having a class in doing it later this month. I have gone on line and found instructions and various kits you can buy. I'm just wondering - is it as easy as it looks and are the results as lovely as they seem on line?

[katiedoodles]

Susan,

I did rug-hooking years ago and made a few pillows from 12x12 rugs. It was fun, but all of the fuzz made me sneeze constantly:) My mom had made a Christmas tree skirt (circa 1975) that was beautiful, but unfortunately it was lost when all of our Christmas ornaments went "missing".

It is a very easy hobby, the higher the quality of the yarn the better the results.

[susank]

Thanks Katie - what I'm looking at is not actually with yarn but with strips of wool fabric. The results are quite folksy and beautiful. I am thinking they are perfect for our log cabin. It's really not the wool yarn rugs that we remember grandparents doing. It's really quite an art. If I could figure out how to attach something I would show you. I'll give it a try and get back to you!

[katiedoodles]

WOW, that sounds beautiful! I would love if you were able to attach a picture. I haven't seen anything like that around here.

[NJMo]

My sister made several rugs using this method. She took old wool clothing and used a special cutter wheel thing to make her strips. She made a wallhanging for a friend from her recently-passed-away father's wool plaid shirts. It was striking. The finished product would look great in a log/mountain home.

[susank]

NJMo - this is exactly what I am talking about. Here is a link to a Canadian artist who does this. I love them! But I am surprised I had never seen this before.

http://www.hookingrugs.com/minishowcase/cache/cache_portfolio/th_beachbabes.jpg

Sorry the picture and not the link came up.

[NJMo]

Yep, this is what my sister did. Easy but time-consuming. It's not uncommon for Ozarks women to have done this 100 years ago -- probably because it is/was a poor part of the country and limited access to supplies. My family has been in the Missouri Ozarks for 150+ years and my brother/nephews still live on the family farm homesteaded by my ancestors. According to my aunts, their mothers did rug hooking during the winter.

[susank]

That is pretty interesting and a little funny really. These rugs now sell for thousands of dollars. I guess it just goes to show the value of an artisan's time these days - and of course creativity!

[susank]

More than a year ago I started this thread and this week I finally finished my first rug. I took a class in December and started working on the rug then. It's fun but REALLY time consuming. I see now why these rugs cost so much - the kit alone was $95 and I shudder to think how many hours I spent on it. Oh well, I do it while I'm at the cottage because I don't really feel like sewing up there. I just got an e-mail from the woman I bought the kit from and she's at a quilt show this weekend so I think I may go buy another one.

Here's the finished result - the size is about 11 x 17 inches so I think I'll make it into a pillow. I'm really happy with it.

[StitchinGrandma]

Wow Susan. That's awesome. I bet you were glad to see that one finished. When my 3 boys were younger I taught them how to do that and all four of us would sit every night for awhile doing our own projects. They LOVED doing that and actually my oldest son asked me later after college if I still had that stuff and if he could have it because he liked it so much. Oh my gosh......you just gave me a great idea. I might have to buy him some more of these simple ones though, because I bet he would have a blast teaching my Granddaughter how to do this. Maybe if he taught her that it would start getting her interested now in crafting so she wants to learn to sew when/IF she ever comes back to our house again.

[susank]

Vicki - that's interesting. I have mentioned it to some other people whose grandparents used to do it. And - I always think its a good idea to teach kids things like this - anything to take them away from texting etc.!