Exploring Patterns and Designers in Rug Hooking

      Our local rug hooking guild continues to grow much faster than we expected. A lot of this is thanks to our founder, Eleanor, who invites every woman she meets to become a hooker. Many come to visit our monthly guild meeting to see what it's all about and quite a few stay on and pick up the craft. Eleanor and I formed the group in 2019 with the thought that if twelve people showed up, we would deem it a success. We began with twenty and have more than double that number on our roster today. We call ourselves, "Blue Ridge Ruggers" and we are a happy, very creative bunch. 

     This year, we arranged our first teacher workshop. We brought in Cammie Bruce for a three day workshop and she was marvelous! Most teachers have to limit their class size so we used a lottery to choose which twenty members would to attend. Cammie is a dynamic, talented designer who works so well with students. She brought many of her patterns and a huge inventory of wool to stoke our creativity. I personally began working on one of Cammie's patterns called, "Grandma's Blue Pot". She helped me color plan the rug and it is my current work in progress. It is my first rug of Cammie's and in her primitive style of soft, medium value wools. The workshop was a great success. This was an encouragement for me to continue bringing more teachers to our group.

     Nearby, at Smith Mountain Lake, another local hooker has begun arranging teacher workshop retreats. Last fall she brought in Karen Whidden for a three day retreat at the 4H camp on the lake. I was happy to attend and brought a Trisha Travis pattern designed in the style of a vintage postcard. Tricia is also a new designer for me to hook and I enjoyed working on this pattern a lot. Our teacher, Karen, was very helpful with tips and comments although I had color planned this rug myself in keeping with the original design.

     Another new designer I met last year is named Katie Kriner. She published a book titled, "Rug Hooking With Wool Strips" that contains twenty patterns for enlarging. Her style is more contemporary and I find that her designs work well in my home. She has a brick and mortar shop in Pennsylvania called, "The Bee and the Bear" as well as an Etsy shop under the same name. I made her "Six Flowers" rug and an adorable pillow called, "Bird in Foliage". Both patterns were from her book. The wool used in both rugs were also from her shop and were all hand dyed by Katie and her team. I have them pictured in the room in which they were placed. I love antiques and old things, but I don't style my home in the primitive style. So, these rug styles have found a good place in my home. 

     I have a few more finished projects in rugs and cross stitch that I will post another time. Each one gives me much joy to create and some very lovely people to create with.