Category: hooking

February 27, 2018

Hooking variations on a theme

Boucherouite theme in rug hooking. — “The First Boucherouite” hooked from old bed sheets and a little t-shirt added in. I loved this rug, even considered keeping it for my own house.

How many of you have fallen in love with a style of rug or a theme or design or what-have-you, enough that you feel a pressing need to hook more and more of them? I find myself feeling like that with the whole Boucherouite thing. For those not familiar with the Moroccan rugs, check out this fabulous article dealing with the history of the rugs and the Berber peoples who make them. I warn you, you’ll start seeing these types of rugs in every home magazine and website you frequent.

In essence the Boucherouite is a simple rag rug. Strips or unraveled fibers of older textiles, such as clothing or worn out rugs, are recycled and woven together to create something new. Yet the humble origins of these rugs serve only to accentuate the remarkable nature of the finished products which take full advantage, not only of the weaving skills of their makers, but of the benefits of their patchwork components.
— AphroChic

Certainly, I’ve written about the Boucherouites before, when I hooked my first one last year. Yes, mine are hooked; I don’t weave them. I fell in love with these rag rugs with their seemingly haphazard designs and color schemes when they started showing up in my Pinterest feed. The pics made it difficult initially to discern whether they were hooked, woven, or made in some other way. The fact that the weavers create them out of old textiles – like I hook my rugs! – made it impossible for me not to try my hand at one. Again, hooking, not weaving.

Colorful bedsheet strips for Boucherouite theme rug — And so it begins. A pile of bedsheet strips. Color, it’s all about the color. And using what’s available – even if I have to head off to **Savers** to get it.

I found that my own sense of design, despite my best efforts, didn’t allow me to create a rug as “irregular” as the true Boucherouites. That’s okay; it’s how inspiration works. It’s not about copying. After I hooked (and sold!) the first one, I knew that I was going to do another sooner than later. And that it would be BIG.

Fast forward to this winter. The BIG Boucherouite’s time has come. I drew it up on a piece of monks’ cloth and sewed on the rug binding. Prior posts have shown that. Currently, I’m in the midst of cutting sheets into strips. I’d recycled old bedsheets for the “First Boucherouite” and loved the effect. That plus the high we get here at High on Hooking when we up-cycle made it a winner. I’m not completely sure how the colors will work on this new rug, it’s a fluid thing, but I’ll need to have strips at the ready. It’s a LOT of hand-cutting for me and the scissors.

So, you see the theme running here. It gets better. Last week, the Mystery Rug finally finished and off to the framers, I needed to start hooking pieces for this year’s selling season. Specifically, I have Albuquerque’s Recycled Art Fair coming up in April. I decided to start with a double mug rug because…they tend to sell pretty quickly. I took out a couple of OD green mugs I’d found at Savers and stared at them, waiting for them to channel an idea into my brain. And I waited. And I waited. In the meantime, I was sewing up the BIG Boucherouite. Ooh! Got it! Thus the “Baby Boucherouite” was born. I know, I know, I risk becoming boring. But they’re fun!

Boucherouite theme rug. — Keeping true to the theme, now we have the “Baby Boucherouite.” Also hooked from old sheets with some t-shirt thrown in. It’s about 7″x14″. Wouldn’t it make a great magic carpet for Barbie?

Hooked rug — Okay, it’s not much to look at right now, but it’ll be pretty as a posy later this week. BTW, if you’re looking for Tynan, he’ll be back next week. Tom took him out for a walk. And left the house all to me!

In the meantime, before I can finally hook the BIG rug, this is what’s on the frame today. No, it’s not part of the Boucherouite theme, but it is another double mug rug. T-shirt, bathing suit, nightie, and an old blouse ensure that I can use it at the Recycling Fair which requires 70 or 75% of items offered for sale be constructed of recycled materials. I can do that, no prob.

What about you? Have you ever found yourself obsessed by a particular theme or design or even a color when you’ve been hooking? Tell us about it.

February 20, 2018

I got a cutter just like the big girls!

My new Fraser wool cutter. — I love how I can clamp the Fraser cutter – Brad – to almost any table I’m working near. So much better than the way those little rubber cups under the Bliss dehydrate out here in the Southwest and then slip all over my granite counter tops. Just like my pencil sharpener.

It finally happened. After hooking for maybe 14 years, I finally got me a cutter! No more cutting wool by hand with the old scissors unless I wish to (for some dumb reason). Check him out; my husband named him Brad after the insurance commercial. You know, the one where the girl goes on about her long relationship with her car Brad. Until she totaled him. We will NOT be totaling Brad in this house!

He’s an old Harry M. Fraser 500-1 that had been donated to the guild. And he works much better than the old and very sad Bliss I’d tried. Brad was accompanied by a #4 cutter head. What am I going to do with a #4 cutter head – me who spends most of my time cutting up old sheets and t-shirts to hook with? That’s like hooking with crazy thin sock yarn or something. But, but…

Wool for rug cut with Fraser cutter. — My penguin addition to Mary S’s tesselation rug. You can barely see those #4 strips, they’re so narrow! I love how his feet came out. Okay, like his white front, they’re hooked from yarn too. The little button eye could be an issue if the rug’s going down on the floor. That’ll be Mary’s problem. 🙂

Remember how the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) is doing our friendship rug project? Well, after finishing the Mystery Rug last week (currently at the framer’s), I could finally work on the friendship rug that’s been sitting in my house for over a month. Mary S drew a tessellation – very cool. Mary S, along with many of the gals in AWAG, often hooks with #4s. Laura does not. But, when all you pretty much have is a #4 cutter head… So, I threw on the big girl panties and cut #4 strips. And then, to the blue light of the television’s Olympic coverage – mostly figure skating, I hooked my part of Mary’s rug. On the linen it came on, not monks’ cloth. Okay, I used a little cream rug yarn for texture, but I THINK IT CAME OUT SO COOL! I am not so bad at this hooking thing after all.

Sewing hooked rug — Sewing the binding onto the “Big Boucherite.” Took three sewing sessions. Thank God for all the freaking figure skating.

So, now I’m hooking with the big girls – wispy, little strips of wool. Is this my new medium? Hell, no! Sure, I’ll definitely use the cutter. In fact, I ordered a #6 head because I’m in the midst of a rug that I started using Mary R’s Townsend cutter. Then I found a #8 that was with the junky Bliss cutter. So, I’ll have a nice little stable of three heads to use WHEN I’M NOT CUTTING BY HAND/HOOKING/UP-CYCLING T-SHIRTS, BEDSHEETS, AND OTHER UNLOVED TEXTILES. (The plastic bag mystery rug was a good experiment, but not one going into the permanent repertoire.) In fact, just last night I finished sewing the rug binding onto my new project. (Remember, I’m one of those who was taught to do that first, makes it easier to finish later, and NO WHIPPING!) It’s BIG, the biggest I’ve tackled thus far, but I can’t wait. It’ll be the “Big Boucherouite,” done up mainly in bedsheets because of how much I loved that in the “First Boucherouite.”

Hooked rug and dog. — While it’s not on the frame yet, here’s the “BIG Boucherouite” with Tynan posing to show the size. It’s about 55″x49″. It’ll take a bit of time and not be particularly portable. Cue the “Baby Boucherouite”!

Nonetheless, like I said, I’ll definitely use the cutter. It’s kind of funny, though. Last week, there was a post on one of the hooking Facebook sites. Someone made mention of how disappointed she was in her old Fraser, that she could only cut two strips at a time. Very slow going, and what cutter did others use and recommend? Life’s relative, I guess. Here I was – same evening – pleased as punch that I was getting three (!) nice and even #4 strips cut at once. So much easier and quicker than using my scissors. But, like I said, it’s all relative. I’m sure that if I was hooking exclusively in wool, I’d be salivating over a Bolivar or the absurdly efficient Sizzix.

What about you? How do you cut your wool?

February 13, 2018

Hanging and hooking with friends, a retreat

Ram hooked rug at retreat. — **Melinda** finished her ram – hurray! It’s based on a pic her **photographer-husband Gary** took when they were on vacation last year. She started it last spring when **Cheryl Bollenbach** was here for a **workshop**.

Thank goodness that the illness I wrote about last week abated enough for me to attend our guild’s three-day retreat Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I’d have hated to miss it; all the hooking and chatting and snacking with friends, that is. We try to hold a retreat three or four times each year now, and visitors are welcome should you be in the area. You don’t even have to be a hooker!

Luckily, we have a venue available to us at no cost. Yes, absolutely free. It is, ironically, a police substation in the Sandia foothills here in Albuquerque. Yes, the hookers have taken over the cops’ joint. Actually, it’s a rather inactive substation these days. Rarely any folks in uniform in residence. But it’s a fabulous room – plenty of tables and space, big windows letting in lots of natural light. This winter the heat’s even worked!

Enjoy some pics of Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) members at play with their rugs.

Bird rug hooking at retreat — Can you believe that **Nan**‘s been hooking for less than two years??? She designed this; it’ll be a chair pad.

Rug hooking retreat — At the same time Nan’s hooking her mom-in-law’s dog. He’ll be a pillow soon.

Working on rug at hooking retreat — **Mary S.** was ~~doing penance~~ whipping the edges of this original rug for her granddaughter. This is not her first rug for a granddaughter by any means. Check out those eyes!

Hooking at retreat — **Liz** has been using each retreat to get a lot of work done on a rug of her and her husband fishing. This time it was all about the water.

Working at ooking retreat — **Nancy Pierce** was hard at work on a piece that she’ll have ready for sale at next month’s **Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival** in Albuquerque. Find her rugs and other pieces at her **website** and in this **prior post.**

Hooking retreat. — Linda’s got the Celtic thing going on in this rug. Check out the matching ring!

At the hooking retreat. — Nancy made this little bag to carry her scissors and things. Like very much!

Hooked rug retreat. — And I think that I finally finished hooking the **mystery rug**. I say “I think” because I need to look at it some more to determine if it needs editing. Then there’s the framing. But I’m glad to be moving back to real fibers this week.

If you’re in the area, AWAG’s next retreat will be May 9-11.

Hope you can make it!

January 24, 2018

The mystery rug

By now many of you have caught sight of my “mystery rug.” And some have even figured out that it’s being hooked out of plastic bags. The ultimate in up-cycling! The ultimate, too, in cheap, rug raw materials. Though, the reality is, that by choosing sed materials, I’m limiting myself. See the black lines between the “cells”? I didn’t necessarily want to use black; brown would’ve worked better. But that’s the challenge of restricting myself to a specific material. Even though friends (thank you especially, Mary Ramsey!) provided me with their used plastic bags, and I saved my own, nowhere did I find a really brown plastic bag, never mind the several that I need for this particular application. But when one of the imperatives for your little work of art is that it’s to be made out of plastic bags, typically something we throw away after that trip to Walmart or even Savers, you use “what you got.” So I hooked those borders in black.

I suppose you’re wondering what exactly it is that I’m hooking, what the mystery rug is all about. Not telling! It’s enough right now that you know what it’s being hooked from. I’m still working the design, hoping desperately that it’ll be a fair representation of what’s going on inside my head. And that it’ll fit the requirements of a couple of shows that I aim to enter. More on them later.

This is new to me, sharing as I go something that I’m not sure of. But so many of you are brave enough to do just that on Facebook and in your blogs, that I decided to let you in on this project.

plastic bag hooked rug — Constance Old’s rug “Sea of Blue: Plastic Floats Forever”: 2010; mixed paper and plastic on linen; 52″x42″. This rug is still so very timely with it’s obvious **message regarding plastic pollution**.

I’ve worked in “limited” plastic bag before. Liking how the strips pulled and in the interests of recycling and trying something new-ish (back in 2014 I saw one of Constance Old‘s plastic bag rug in an exhibit in Connecticut), I decided to hook a mat comprised of nothing but plastic bag. I will advise you that, if you choose to do one yourself, do NOT do it in winter. The static electricity will kill you! Very annoying. There are now (and perhaps forever?) little pieces of plastic bag all over my living room-hallway-kitchen. They even make their way into the bedroom! Static Guard is the only answer.

As High on Hooking, I’ve made a “career” out of using alternative and less-than-traditional materials to hook my rugs. Have you gone out of your comfort zone to try something other than wool strips? Buffalo or wolf yarn? (Yes, they sell that out here in New Mexico.) T-shirts? Silk saris? Sari yarn is probably my favorite to hook with. Something really weird? Come one, tell us. Here at High on Hooking we do NOT judge. It’s only in stretching that the art of rug hooking will grow.

January 17, 2018

Where rug hooking takes me

Rug hooking - pumpkin — A close-up of the first rug that I ever hooked. Note that those are wool strips. Thank you, Franklin, Massachusetts, Adult Education program.

One day you take a community adult education class; rug hooking it’s called. For the life of you, you can’t remember why the hell you did that. In fact, your ex-husband’s mom was a hooker, and you paid absolutely no attention to that. Really. None! All you can remember is that she used a lot of black backgrounds. (Something you despise because all-black is such a pain to work with. 🙂 )

Now and again, maybe fifteen years later, you think about where this rug hooking thing’s taken you, what it’s given you. And it makes you shake your head in wonder.

It’s given me a good bit of self-confidence
As an artist. Especially one who doesn’t really fall into the category of a traditional rug hooker but only because of my use of alternative fibers and other materials. Originally, because I hooked with t-shirts and such, I was afraid to hang with other hookers, join a guild. I got over it. Thanks, Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) for such a great welcome to Albuquerque’s fiber arts scene two-and-a-half years ago. And especially for your encouragement. It helped when I went out to sell at art and other shows. And it appears that I’ve made a little name for myself. Just yesterday, as I was wandering through Kohl’s, I got a call from some woman up in Santa Fe who found me online and asked if I could repair her punched rugs. Apparently, her dogs regularly do a number on them. Of course, I can!

Relaxing after rug hooking. — AWAG members Mary Schnitzler and Kathy Kelly relax after a day’s hooking at the hook-in hosted by the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers in Tucson. We’ll be there again at the end of January!

Oh, the friendships!
Never mind that most of my friends here in my adopted city of Albuquerque are hookers. Hooking’s introduced me to folks all over the world – thanks, Facebook and now Instagram! Make no mistake, these are friends with benefits. Just take a gander at yesterday’s Loop by Karen Larsen. She’s working on a commission, a rug featuring two dogs and mentions how we learn from one another.

Judy Carter’s book, Hooking Animals [© 2014 Stackpole Books], is bookmarked and often referred to as I go along. Judy mostly hooks with narrow #3 and #4 wool strips, but I am hooking these dogs with wider #7 wool strips. That’s as narrow as I like to go, so I have used Judy’s book as an inspirational jumping-off point.

It has taken me years to realize and accept that I hook the way I hook. Although I have learned and incorporated many helpful hooking tips through the years, I must have confidence in my own abilities. I plan to look to my friend, Nancy Parcels, for inspiration as I do the background.

It does indeed take a village!

I’m doing a little teaching
Because of the feedback I’ve received when I sell my less-than-traditional rugs, I’ve been asked to teach people how to do it themselves. I was even invited to teach a rug hooking class up at New Mexico’s famed Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center. Woohoo!

Rug hooking exhibit — A view of AWAG’s Fiber Fiesta rug hooking booth this last May.

To be a part of Albuqueque’s larger fiber arts scene
There’s no better way to get to know your new town than to volunteer and join things. And the guild knew a sucker when they saw one. They made me AWAG’s representative to Albuquerque’s Fiber Arts Council. That meant meeting all kinds of fiber artists and working with them to make Fiber Arts Fiesta 2017 happen. I must’ve done a great job, because somehow I also became our rep to the Education Committee which is currently planning our biennial spring show “Earth, Wind, and Fiber”. (Entries are due February 25!)

Susan’s Legacy helps women with co-occurring disorders regain their lives and their families.

Susan’s Legacy
Last week I asked you if you have any purses languishing in your closet, that I need them bad. Clarification: I need brand name-type purses. Frankly, the kind they DON’T sell at Kohl’s. I also mentioned that I’d explain why this week. Turns out that as a guild rep to the Fiber Arts Council, I had to vote on a charity to be promoted at the Fiber Arts Fiesta last May. We chose Susan’s Legacy, a non-profit that serves the needs of women with co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders. Having some family experience with such things, somehow, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I clicked my heels, and was suddenly on the Board of Directors. Long story short, we need money to make our programs go. One thing that’s worked in the past has been a silent auction at a women’s networking luncheon. Albuquerque’s Women Make a Difference puts that on – a big WOOHOO for them! We at Susan’s Legacy find the purses, clean them up, and run the auction at the luncheon this Friday, March 9. Registration starts February 19, on Women Make a Difference’s website. If you’re local, maybe we’ll see you??? (Or at least your purse. )

Where is rug hooking taking you?