Tag: rug hooking workshop

December 16, 2020

Winter Teaching Schedule

High on Hooking’s Winter Teaching Schedule (thus far)

I thought that, as we close out 2020, perhaps it would be a good thing to summarize our winter teaching schedule as it currently stands. We do plan on adding more workshops. Unfortunately, Covid still requires that classes occur online, but that just means no hotel reservations needed, lower costs, and the ability to take workshops anywhere with all kinds of new people!

Small hooked rug — You too can “Build a Baby Boucherouite” or, as I like to call it, Barbies Magic Carpet. New class coming January 16, 2021. See the winter teaching schedule.

BUILD A BABY BOUCHEROUITE
Saturday, January 16, 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Boucherouites are having their day! They’re so trendy that you can’t look at a Better Home and Gardens magazine or watch an HGTV show without seeing them. The Berber tribe of Morocco has been creating Boucherouites, one-of-a-kind, hand-knotted rugs, since the mid-20th century. Traditionally, they’re made using old clothes and other textile scraps. They’re a pretty freestyle form of expression often looking as if the weaver started with one color scheme and pattern, got bored, and moved onto something else. They’re fun in a colorful, spontaneous way and are easily adaptable to rug hooking.

In this workshop you’ll design your own “Baby Boucherouite” rug and start to hook it with textile scraps you have on hand be they cotton clothing, old bedsheets, and/or leftover wool noodles. The sky’s the limit! We’ll also discuss how to prepare, cut, and hook with non-wool materials. This class is designed for a student proficient at rug hooking basics, particularly the mechanics of pulling loops through a backing. You need not own a cutter to participate (or even to hook rugs!).

Because this is an online workshop, students will supply their own materials. Materials needed:

•Hooks;
•Backing of choice to allow for a rectangular mat at least 12” by 6”;
•A frame;
•A pencil (or “magic” pen) and Sharpie to draw rugs straight onto backing;
•Fibers of choice (wool, yarn,old clothing/textiles, whatever); and
•A mind and spirit open to experimenting and FUN.

Class Fee: $45 US. For more information or to register, please contact me at Laura@highonhooking.com. Class limit of 12 students.

INTRO TO PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING
Sunday, January 31, 1:00 p.m. Eastern

This class is being taught as part of In the Studio’s WORKSHOP WEEK 2 which I wrote about last week. Find the info HERE. Please take a look there to see not just the punch needle class but all seven (yes, you read that right, 7!) workshops going on that week. Seven different instructors offering seven very different classes all through the week! There are also two bonus sessions – an evening gathering to hook, knit, crochet, chat, or just hang AND a panel discussion.

A caveat, my punch needle class appears to be full now. I am taking names in case of cancellations. And if there are enough interested (by that I mean as few as 2 and up to 10), I will be happy to run the class again later in the winter. Just give me a yell!

Other workshops are filling; if you’re interested, please contact the instructors ASAP. I should know; I’m a student in Nadine’s class!

HOW WILL YOU SPEND YOUR WINTER? IT’S TIME TO TRY SOMETHING NEW WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE VACCINES TO KICK COVID’S BUTT.

August 16, 2020

Rug hooking workshop this week!

Poster for rug hooking workshop — WORKSHOP COMING WEDNESDAY!

Maybe you forgot to sign up? Or you’re stuck at home, bored, having to quarantine? Actually, I hope you’re just looking to try something new with your hooking. The workshop runs this Wednesday, August 19, at 1 PM Eastern (that’s 11:00 AM Mountain, my time!) on Zoom. We’ve got a couple of openings still, so if you know how to pull a loop, you might want to join us. More info here.

KEEP STAYING HEALTHY AND WEAR THOSE MASKS!

August 5, 2020

Sunflowers – hopefully they’re a neutral subject

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.

July 20, 2020

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop

High on Hooking is offering our first online workshop, Hooking With and Beyond the Wool. Thank you, Coronacootie. If you’re at all interested in experimenting with fibers that stand alone or that can mix it up with wool, this is the class for you.

HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL

Rug hooked with alternative fibers is an example of what you can make in the HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND WOOL workshop. — Hook your own mixed-fiber rug after taking the HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL workshop. (“Bohemian Snake” Rug; 6.5″x18″; Ultrasuede strips, silk strips, sari yarn, recycled t-shirt strips, wool yarn, velour strips.)

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 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1:00 PM EDT.

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

Class will be limited to 10 people.

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

The COST of this class is $30 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.

Addendum: If you are interested in the workshop, but can’t make the date/time, contact me and we can set up a private class. Really, I’m stuck at home. I have the time. 

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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.

October 21, 2019

Hook a Rug, Save the Planet – with Laura Salamy

Want to learn a new skill and recycle some old stuff at the same time? We’ll be doing just that in my workshop “Hook a Rug, Save the Planet.”

November 2, 2019
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Learn the basics of traditional rug hooking but with a twist – using old t-shirts, recycled wool strips, yarn, ribbon, and anything else you have in the house that you can pull a loop with. We’ll talk about “virgin” fibers, certainly, but we’ll do our part for the environment and save some money while we make something beautiful. During the class, you’ll learn how to:

• transfer a pattern onto a monk’s cloth backing;
• prepare your materials;
• begin hooking a mug rug and table “mat” or wall-hanging.

Laura Salamy will present "Hook a rug, Save the planet" workshop November 2. — Laura Salamy will present “Hook a Rug, Save the Planet” workshop November 2.

We’ll discuss various ways you might want to finish your rug after all the hooking is done. *No experience is necessary; just come prepared to play with color and textures!

Learn how to make a hooked rug in "Hook a rug, save the planet" workshop — Rug hooked using recycled t-shirts.

Material students should provide: good scissors and quilting hoop if you have one. If not EVFAC will provide a 12” hoop for use in this class (available for purchase)

Material instructor will provide: Monk’s cloth backing; hooks; rug binding; extra frames to try; thread/needles; hooking materials

Laura is an experienced, albeit “less-than-traditional” rug hooker who owns a business, High on Hooking (www.highonhooking.com), selling hooked items primarily in local shows and on Etsy. She’s lived in Albuquerque for over four years, leaving gray New England for the Southwest’s sunny, open skies. In 2018, she was elected President of the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG), New Mexico’s only rug hooking guild.

This class requires a minimum of three students.

Non-Member: $80 (Member $65)

Materials Fee: $15
Materials fee is paid at first class meeting.

Class will take place at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center in Española, NM.

For more info click here.