..your rug hooking journey began? I sure do and knew it would be a love everlasting. I soaked up Rug Hooking magazine, loved the photos and particularly paid attention to the 'beginner' rug hooking articles. But one can only read so much before it comes time to purchase supplies and put the little knowledge to practice. When it came down to buying a booklet with whimsical primitive patterns it was one offered by Ali Strebel and the first finished project was a hooked mitten.
The photo below was my first year at Cape May 2003 with teacher Patsy Becker after a couple years practicing on my own. My hair looks like it needs shearing, lol.
The
very first frame was an embroidery hoop and that was just too awkward to hold and pull loops so purchased a used Puritan and stand. Here is a Puritan with original stand but not the one I purchased.
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| (A random Puritan frame photo) |
Well, it was better than the hoop but sold it to purchase something more substantial that would rotate and tilt, Puritan wasn't a winner in my book. So now I have a sit-upon which travels with me to camps so I can hook in the sleeping room at night. And use it at home for hooking small stuff. My favorite frame is the Snapdragon but have an Acadian Frame for larger patterns. So one of those travels to camps to be my classroom frame. Most times I take the Snapdragon since it is an easy off when its my turn with the teacher.
I also own an original Townsend 16" Orbiter seen in this old photo with my departed big boy Ben. I think Ben was sizing up the small empty space on the sofa wondering if he would fit in. Anyway, as I have no plans to hook huge rugs in the future I'm planning on taking the frame to Cape May in case anyone is interested in purchasing it. Closer to September I'll pull the frame out of the closet and photograph it without a rug.
The first cutting tool was
a rotary cutter which I no longer have since I loaned it and was never returned. However knew
I was in this game for the long haul so had purchased a more substantial and more expensive
cutter. As with most things for this rug hooking venture I've upgraded and have a back-up for all my toys tools.
I have a Bliss (with suction cups), a Fraser 500 with #3 - #8 cuts and my beloved Townsend Cutter with #6 - #10 cartridges. At this time I don't plan to sell any of those because I use the smaller cuts on the Bliss and Fraser so as to not have to purchase cartridges of those sizes for the Townsend.
Sorry to bore you with this time travel back decades but it came about since someone asked me if I'd teach them to hook. When I did shows I'd hook something in the booth between customers. So many times people would ask if I'd teach them to hook. I'm not a teacher and don't want to be a teacher as I feel I'd lose the love of hooking as I did when making dolls.
Eventually making dolls became work and right now my time hooking is my time for pleasure. I don't wish to make that feel like work. Frankly all the teachers I've had deserve LOTS of credit for what they put up with and only hope that when I was in their class I was a good student.
Whew! Sorry this was such a long post, have a lovely evening, enjoy hooking and I'd better get back to pulling loops on my 1911 Horse as well.
Saundra
