By Elizabeth Spence
Rug hooking is synonymous with the Eastern provinces of Canada. It is an ancient way of recycling old or worn-out wool and cotton clothing and scraps of spun wool.
The fabric would be cut into strips and hooked through the spaces of woven burlap or jute feed bags. In the beginning, a bent nail would be used for this, but now there are all kinds of specialized hooks available.
These rugs were initially purely utilitarian, being used to stop drafts and prevent wear on wooden floors, but there was always an artistic intent in one way or other. Flowers were a particularly beloved design.
Rug-hooking is still extremely popular in our area. It is gratifying to see an ancient art continuing to this day.
Zella Perry of Wallace writes:
I was introduced to hooking 23 years ago, and ever since, I have been meeting at the Wallace Museum every Thursday with the Remsheg Rug Hookers.
Here is a rug I designed and hooked with strips of wool fabric. I used yarn to finish the edge in the herringbone stitch. I often include a butterfly on my rugs.
The rug is called “Waterlilies,” and is 30″by 28″ on a jute backing.

Here is a close-up of the waterlilies:

Zella continues:
The Remsheg Rug Hookers often work together for the community. One beautiful rug was a combined effort by the members. The material used was woolen strips of cloth and the pattern was already on the backing.
When it was finished we donated it to the Wallace museum so they could raffle it off. The proceeds came to over $1,000 dollars!

I bet we can guess who hooked the butterflies!!
