Braiding or Hooking?

A follower asked me and interesting question.   She wanted to know if the One Room School House antique rug had a braided or hooked edge.  That was a question I asked myself when first looking at the rug.  I believe it is a hooked edge using textured wool.

There is a hooking technique which gives the appearance of a braided edge and have seen it demonstrated in a class.  However, I've never tried it myself.  This morning even went in search thru old camp notes in hopes of finding the paper related information but to no avail.  Then Googled 'hooked braided edge' and nothing popped up in my search.

Here is a close-up of the top right corner of the One Room School house.  Notice the worn/torn edge where loops are missing.

I believe it is a hooked edge using plaid wool to give the appearance of braiding.  Those same colors appear at the oval of the rug as seen below.  While some rugs have been made with braiding inside as well as the edge, don't think that is what was done here.

It is possible to use textured wool to fool the eye into believing it is a braided edge as I have demonstrated below.

The Curled Cat rug I hooked in 2003 sorta gives the appearance with using a plaid wool.

Another trick is to do the 'beading' technique which I did on the Ali Katz design.  I hooked only one row using black and the colors of wool used in the design.  Had I hooked two rows of beading using black and a single color it may have appeared to be more like a braid.

Although I do have plans one day to do a braided edge I've successfully avoided that to date.  Personally, I think the braided edge needs to have a certain rug for it compliment the rug vs. detracting from the content of the hooked design.  Just MHO.

Happy Saturday.

Saundra