Very First Hooked Rugs / Mats

So one day I went over to my Mothers house for a visit, and there she was, at the kitchen table planning her newest craft obsession of Braided Rugs.

I grab a cup of coffee and sit down with her...

right in front of me was a new copy of the Braidaid catalog.

I'd never heard of hooked rugs and Braidaid isn't anywhere to be found these days, but I saw some hooked rugs in there. They looked interesting so off Jean goes to do a little research. I read that all you do is take 1/4" inch strips of fabric and hook them into a backing of monks cloth... finish off the edges by turning them toward the back side and wallah... hooked rug right? HA!

I used an easy pattern out of that Braidaid catalog and made the below mat... being a quilter I had tons of calico cottons on hand...(well they SAID fabric) I also crochet so I had tons of crochet hooks. Went to the local fabric store, found monks cloth... used my quilting hoop and made the below mat.


It's NOT that bad. Of course I'm suprised I still have a right hand after hooking all those loops. Now come on, I did ok... Look! I even outlined the pictures... and I put a little red border on. LOL!

So the Hooker in me was born and more research was done...
Aha! you use WOOL!

Well of course you do so you don't have to pull THAT many loops through and
you can make the rug faster! lol duh!

So off to Goodwill to find some wool. Below is my second mat done, in "as is" wool, and the loops are VERY low.... but they are even! (ok it took a year or more to learn how to not pack... OK ok ok I still tend to pack but I'm much better now!) ha.

So here is Sunbonnet Sue... a Classic Quilting pattern. Trying NOT to pack my loops made little see-through spots in her hat. But she's still ok, and this time I made a little red border using two rows, not just one. :)

Over a decade has gone by and I've made hundreds of hooked rugs and mats... some are on my Picture Trail if you'd like to go take a look-see. http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=14608749&uid=7734189

As you can see I did get a little bit better.

After all these years and all this hooking... to this day, I've never seen another hooked rug in person. I've only ever looked at pictures. I still have a lot to learn and at the moment I'm in a hooking burnout that's lasted a year now, but I'll never stop hooking. Once you get the bug? You're a Hooker for life! (I still can't believe I showed you these two rugs! I'll be laughing for weeks!)

Blessings, Jean :)