Hooker

I come from a long line of hookers but I’ve always resisted picking up the trade. But in assisting my mom in running her rug hooking camps, Monterey Fiber Jam (previously Monterey Rug Camp Retreat), and now Little River Inn Rug Camp, it became apparent that my role there would be benefited by hooking a rug. Learning the process as an actual doer and not just a watcher. So I made one!

I chose to do a butterfly because the Fiber Jam in February will be different than a rug camp. The Fiber Jam won’t have teachers – folks will just hang out and do their thing for most of the day – but participants were invited to pitch mini classes or discussions to lead and one of the options is a butterfly challenge. So I designed this butterfly after the swallowtail butterflies that frequent our backyard.

I didn’t capture all of the steps but here is a brief summary of how this rug came into shape:

I researched butterflies on the internet and found a couple pictures I liked. I then sketched out a shape onto a piece of linen using a red crayon, drawing over my final lines with a black sharpie before picking out wool. Then I raided mom’s stash of wool (which I’ve always loved shoving my hands into, like a bowl of dried beans), cut some into strips, borrowed a hook, and got started.

For the background I was going to do a mock linen look, like one might pin an actual butterfly to, but mom suggested I go with a design my grandmother does all the time and do blocks of color.

At first I was just picking which colors to do randomly and then I decided I should map them out.

I was instructed by a few of the ladies hooking that one is supposed to put in a “beauty line”, framing the whole piece first so that the rectangle doesn’t get wonky (previous pictures show loose tails of wool at the edges). Luckily I’m all crazy about straight lines so the misstep was easily corrected.

Now all I have left to do is whip the edges with black yarn, label the back of the rug, and sew on a sleeve for a hanging rod. Phew!

I managed to pinch my ulnar nerve holding my makeshift frame so beware! Make sure proper equipment is used when hooking.

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