recycled tshirts Archives – HIGH ON HOOKING

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop running again.

Interested in hooking with things you can find in your home? Want to try fibers other than or in addition to wool? Maybe help the environment a little? Then join High on Hooking for an online workshop in March. Information is below. Note that the class is limited to 10.

HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL – Online Workshop

hooked rug like will hook in Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop — “Journey” (hooked with old bed sheets and t-shirts)

Get ready to experiment with new and different fibers in your rug hooking. Working on a “sampler” pattern, we’ll explore how different types of fibers hook up and how they “play” with wool and each other.

Early rug hooking was a make-do affair using feed bags, old clothes, and other “used” fabrics. Those pioneering hookers were practical to a fault and threw nothing away; they couldn’t afford to. Today that’s less of a problem for most rug hookers using both virgin and recycled wools. But why limit ourselves to just wool strips?

Hooking with materials other than wool allows us:

The chance to create new and different effects in our rug hooking;
To work with what we may already have in our homes;
To go back to the thrift store to source some of our fiber (now that quality wool’s often scarce there); and
To potentially do some good for the environment.

This class is designed for a student proficient at rug hooking basics, particularly the mechanics of pulling loops through a backing.

Because this is an online workshop, students will supply their own materials. You may draw up your own sampler pattern or enlarge one electronically supplied by teacher.

DETAILS

Class will run Saturday, March 20, 1:00 PM Eastern.

This class will be held online through Zoom. Upon registration and payment, the Zoom link and password will be sent via email (after March 1).

Class will be limited to 10 people.

The class is ONE SESSION, approximately 2.5-3 HOURS in length.

The COST of this class is $45 US.

Student will supply:

Hooks;
Backing, preferably linen or monk’s cloth rather than rug warp;
A frame;
A variety of “alternative fibers,” list to be supplied upon registration; and
A mind and spirit open to experimenting.

For more information or to register, please email me at Laura@highonhooking.com.

Laura Salamy is the hooker behind High on Hooking.

I’ve never been a “traditional” hooker, preferring to color outside of hooking’s more “typical lines.” Instead of limiting myself to wool, I prefer to use most any material I can get my hands on. Often that means cutting strips from old t-shirts and bed sheets. Up-cycling throw-aways to art is a priority for me. Our landfills are filling up. Or they’re already full. While certain projects benefit from virgin wools or other fibers, I like to do my little part to slow that process and make something lovely at the same time.

Laura’s work has been seen in various exhibits as well as Rug Hooking Magazine; ATHA Art of Rug Hooking magazine; Karen Miller’s book Eyes Open to the World: Memories of Travel in Wool; and Judy Taylor’s T-Shirt Treasures: Creating Heirloom Hooked Rugs from the Humble T-Shirt. She currently serves as President of the Adobe Wool Art’s Guild, New Mexico’s only rug hooking guild.

Learn more about her work at https://highonhooking.com.

SUNFLOWERS

Hooked Sunflower Rug used as a bench cover — “Melinda’s Rug” shown as a bench cover. It was hooked using recycled t-shirts.

I decided to talk sunflowers , mostly because I’m pretty sick of all the negativity surrounding us today. And yet…I bet there are folks out there that can find something disapproving about one of my favorite flowers. Too bad! Because, as I will remind you all, I AM THE BOSS OF MY RUGS. AND MY BLOG.

Now that that’s off my chest, I can go on. Sunflowers are starting to bloom here in New Mexico. The garden varieties and the ones that I find on my walks in the Bosque, the woods running along the currently almost non-existent Rio Grande River here in Albuquerque. Sorry! I’ll try to get back to being positive.

New Mexican Sunflower — This is the first sunflower that greeted the kid and me as we crossed over the Texas border into New Mexico five years ago last week.

I recently finished “Melinda’s Rug,” and many of you have seen it on my social media accounts. It’s pretty in pastels. Just the colors that Melinda loves, particularly the turquoises. (An aside: It’s a housewarming present for the house she and Gary build over two years ago. I’m a tad tardy.)

But it’s not the first “sunflower” rug that I’ve hooked. In fact, I like to make at least one per year. And I always do one, a mug rug, for the silent auction at Mountainair’s Sunflowers Festival. Which will not be taking place this August. Thank you, Coronacootie. 🙁

I decided to take a look back and see the progression of this series of mine.

BTW: I’m not a botanist. So don’t hold me to a strict definition of sunflowers.

Round sunflower hooked rug — I’m pretty sure this is the first sunflower rug I hooked. It says 2013, but I think it’s older, that that’s when I took a photo to get ready to sell it. Some lady told me that I should’ve put elastic around the edge so it could be used as a toilet top cover. That was after she told me how she used to hook. In the 70s. I really wanted to tell her a few things…

Sunflower hooked rug — After blue I decided to try red for a background. Sure, they were simplistic. but they sold! Again, recycled t-shirts.

Sunflower hooked ruggggg — It’s another mostly wool sunflower rug. With a little silk sari yarn hooked in too. Silk sari yarn is perhaps my most favorite thing to hook. I seem to recall that there was a little velvet involved in this one too.

Dog on sunflower hooked rug — I went back to recycled t-shirts for this table runner/bench cover. Tynan liked it. I really loved the green background! So did customers. 🙂

Sunflower hooked rugs — I liked the green t-shirts so much that I went for it again the next year.

So, I hoped you enjoyed the “Sunflower Tour” as much as me. But maybe you’re a tulip person. Or you prefer zinnias. I’ve done those flowers too, but not like the sunflowers. They’re special. To me, at least. But if you’ve got examples of other flowers, please share them on our Facebook page. We love seeing beautiful things, no matter what they may be.

Till next week, please stay healthy. And positive. I know it’s hard these days. It can be depressing. But the country and world have gone through worse. Most of all, remember to be kind to the other folks out there. We’re all in it together.

BTW: If you have any interest in High on Hooking’s inaugural Zoom workshop Hooking With and beyond the Wool on August 19, it’s almost full. See details here.

HIGH ON HOOKING

Tag: recycled tshirts

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop – March 20

Sunflowers – hopefully they’re a neutral subject