The Unravelling of a Hooker

THE UNRAVELLING OF A HOOKER   By Lucy Richard 

The sunshine brightly in the downtown Truro NS area on a cold Tuesday in February. I was meeting up with friends Shaughney and Sherry from Wolfville NS for lunch and to catch up.  

A lovely couple were skating to music on the outdoor rink downtown. For a brief moment I wanted to put my skates but stiff joints reminded me to just let that be a memory plus my nostrils stuck together in the cold.  

My friend Beverly Levine had a lovely rug display in the public library were we were headed. The old building must have been one of the original buildings in Truro built in 1877 and surely to hold many secrets! We    admired the rugs and had lunch and then ended up at Frenchy’s in church where I found this big a Lopi sweater obviously the sweater had been was old but the tag read 100% wool and $2.50! My friends looked at me thinking I was as crazy as a loon and hubby Gord raised one eyebrow only so that solidified my insaneness. God love him as he puts up with my creativity.

I unraveled it took several days to do. Not working on it constantly but you know in front of the TV  a spare minute anyway I ended up with 800 yards and 800 g of a beautiful yarn!

 The photo on the left shows the original sweater.


Pictured below is after the dyeing. i weighed out 20g mini skeins in order to get 4-5 values of several colors.

If you want to learn to dye the easy way. THE WOOLY MASON JAR WAY visit www.thewoolymasonjar.com
I could not image doing this kind of dyeing using any other system.

BREAKING FREE Be prepared to have your Mind Blown!

Please allow to present this stunning rug. BREAKING FREE is a 3D geometric that boggle the mind with delight. One can read many things into this piece! And take on many meanings.
When Linda first told me about this rug in mind I thought she was nuts to attempt it! I eat these words and bow to a top notch designer and artist! If this is her debut the look out world!
Designed and hooked by my friend Linda Stockford of New Brunswick Canada. Linda is a member of my Facebook group The Wooly Mason Jar Rug Hooking and live not far from me. I had the honor to teach her my system of dyeing and see for yourself what can be done if you can dye your own swatches. Here are Linda’s words from our chat that she has allowed me to share.
“First I used Costco wrapping paper with the graph on the back to draw it on.  (I am frugal).  All dyed with The Wooly Mason Jar Color Wheel dye system in the microwave.
-7 different colours with 70 different values.
- It took 8 hours to draw the graph on rug warp.
-It has 2880 3/4 in squares.  
-Each square has about 42 loops, that works out to about 120960.00 loops.
-It took 140.3 hours to hook.  This does not include any dyeing or drawing time.  And all the other parts of doing a rug.

I am going to have it framed. It is 27x60.”

Linda Low's Cheticamp Rug Story

An old rug and a not so old story.

This is the story of how I met my dear online friend Linda Low of Newfoundland. Linda and I were just about to meet in person but Linda left this world in 2015 to teacher rug hooking in heaven.

we met when Linda became a member of The Wooly Mason Jar Rug Hooking group on Facebook and asked the question on how to fix a Cheticamp rug.  

Well of course I'm always full of answers if I don't actually have to do the work myself so I told her to go ahead and try to patch it, that it would be easy! 

And of course it would not be easy and  Linda and I begin communicating online and became good friends! Linda told me she was just starting to live her life since she retired and became a rug hooking teacher. Oh how she loved meeting new people and sharing her gift of teaching with others. Linda was the owner of Chapeau Rouge Rug Hooking.

 Before Linda passed away she sent her son she called me and told me she would like me to have the Cheticamp rug that I told her would be easy to fix she told me to go ahead and toss it out and not feel bad but until now I couldn't. 

Cheticamp rugs in the day were made by the ladies of Cheticamp, Cape Breton Nova Scotia. A village nestled at the base of the Cabot Trail. 

These rugs were hooked on huge frames with tiny little hooks with fine yarn. They were world renowned and scattered in stately homes and government houses. 

The skilled hooker ladies were paid by the inch so if you look at the back of a Cheticamp rug you will see the squares. I've taken some photos so that I can show you how to tell a true Cheticamp. You literally see the little squares and even see where different Hookers have worked. 

Sadly repairing this rug is beyond me. 

If anybody would like to have this rug please let me know I cannot seem to throw it out all of those hours that the lady spent pulling loops and then the years that Linda had it on the floor near the bed let me know and I'll pass it on if you'd like to have it. 

RHGNS Rug School Class of 2017 - Doris Norman teaches William Morris

Canadian iconic teacher Doris Norman of Fredericton, New Brunswick is in a class of her own....no pun intended. Fredricton's Heritage Rug Hooking Guild is lucky to have her and we New Brunswick and Nova Scotia hookers are lucky to share her! 

If you get a chance to get into a class with Doris jump at it.....no matter what it is! You won't be sorry. Doris is a true teacher and so interesting! 

Doris will explain history behind the style or subjects she is teaching which I love! Her easy going personality is delightful and witty and sure to have you enjoying every moment!

                     

Class of 2017 RUG SCHOOL - Folk Art with Susie Stephenson

RUG SCHOOL 2017
Hosted yearly by Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia has so much to offer.
While there for the first time this year I tjought I would drop by some of the classes and give you some idea of what it is like.

Susie Stephenson owner and creator of Stephenson Fiber Arts located in Maine USA was this years teacher of Folk Art.
I visited Susie’s class several times over the week and took a few photos and Susie allowed me to listen in and even gave me a chair.
The lighthearted banter and laughter as people learned to set their imaginations free to create was so inspiring I just wanted to be part of it. This class is guaranteed to be a great memory for everyone who participates!
Susie’s colorful, vibrant and whimsical personality is contagious! From her colorful wool dreadlocks to her homespun and knit tights and socks Susie glows in creativity! She brought samples of her rugs and creative art for the students to see, all will make you smile and let go of the stresses of life.

Wool Quilt style Framing

Sometimes is is fun to try new things. 

Here I put a wool applique/needle felted combo together and tried applying a sashing as in quilting.

I stretched this only artist canvas frame.

I made many mistakes that I can fix next time. Here is what I would fix.

1. Allow lots of background left over for adding more rows of sashing.
2. Use a stabilizer of some sort, iron on I think.
3. Take better measurements...Measure twice and cut once! 

Elvis rug update.