Does this FPP make you want to be a hooker?

January 17, 2005 7:25 AM

Ultimate Recycling Rug hooking must be one of the simplest and cost-effective of crafts (basically, cut old clothes into strips, use burlap, insert hook, pull up loop of fabric), and so it’s all the more amazing that it can be used to achieve such cool, painterly and stunning results. If you click on just one link in this FPP, make it this one, made by a Japanese woman out of her grandmother’s old silk kimonos. I’ve selected just one excellent, comprehensive rug hooking web site, but there’s a lot of resources and information available on the web for this craft if you’re interested.
posted by orange swan (12 comments total)

This is really neat! Thank you for sharing!
posted by headspace at 7:36 AM on January 17, 2005

You could frame most of the samples you linked to, The Bamboo was, indeed, pretty amazing. And all for the price of a little "hook".
posted by ThePrawn at 7:37 AM on January 17, 2005

And I thought that I was the only hooker around here! The Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild hosts an annual exhibition of its members' work at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. It's a great hobby -- practical, artistic, and good for the environment, especially if you use thrift store-bought wools. (Um, if anybody's getting rid of woolen skirts during spring cleaning, drop me a line.) Plus, it's just so much fun to tell my friends that I've taken up hooking in the evenings...
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:10 AM on January 17, 2005

So cool! That bamboo one is beautiful - I can't imagine the amount of work it took.
posted by Melinika at 9:11 AM on January 17, 2005

Insert mandatory joke about hookers and strippers here.

I don't hook myself, but I've seen some extraordinary work at the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival over the years.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:26 AM on January 17, 2005

Nice post, orange swan - thanks!

The Canadian Museum of Civilization has an interesting collection of folk rugs online, along with more information on how-tos.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:59 AM on January 17, 2005

I'm familiar with the concept of rug hooking, but I had no idea it could be so beautiful. Previously, I'd only ever seen this folk art as kits in craft stores. But apparently that's like understanding painting by looking at paint-by-numbers kits. I learned something new today. Thanks, orange swan.
posted by raedyn at 12:13 PM on January 17, 2005

Great post, orange swan!

Here's another fabulous gallery of hooked rugs ("Wild flowers crowd my mind" blows me away), via Cynthia at art for housewives, a great blog for recycling crafters.
posted by taz at 2:11 PM on January 17, 2005

Wow, these are impressive. Love the bamboo especially. This one of stone work and this still life are pretty nifty too.
posted by lobakgo at 2:30 PM on January 17, 2005

I have hooked some smaller pieces and am most familiar with the hooked rugs from Cheticamp, NS. Here's another hooked rug resource.
posted by aedra at 7:52 PM on January 17, 2005

Insert mandatory joke about hookers and strippers here.

The rug hookers in Cheticamp are fondly known as: "The Happy Hookers".
posted by aedra at 7:54 PM on January 17, 2005

Thanks to those of you who enriched this thread with your supplementary links!
posted by orange swan at 8:08 PM on January 17, 2005