Did I ever tell you I am a hooker? Yup! A rug hooker that is! I hook with strips of wool fabric in the old Maritime tradition. The long winters in Thunder Bay I spent hooking and dying fabric for creations I would sell at shows or donate to charities for auction. (all this while I hosted a morning show and had two little ones! Don’t know how I managed!) I met many other creative artists and several of us were featured on HGTV’S Sue Warden’s Craftscapes several years ago. For many people in Thunder Bay it was an introduction to the art form, some remembered their grandmothers hooking and some wanted to try it themselves. I taught a few classes and really tried to encourage participants to “do their own thing” once they got the technique down. I always have felt hooking should be an expression of “oneself”, no mater where it takes you. How thrilled I was to receive a call a few months back from a Thunder Bay free lance writer who had purchased some of my work years earlier and now had taken up hooking herself. She was going to submit the idea of a story about me “broadcaster/hooker” to the big kahuna in the rug hooking world RUG HOOKING MAGIZINE which is published in the US.
Well they said yes and my story along with some pictures of my hooking are featured in the summer issue. How exciting! It is a great article and I am very pleased with how it all turned out. My only regret is that I didn’t have a picture of a mat I made for Loreena Mckennitt many years ago. I usually took pictures of everything I did because many were one of a kind and once they were sold they were gone forever. For some reason I didn’t take a picture before I sent it to her. It was a mat I was inspired to design and hook after listening to the Bonny Swans, and ancient tale of sister rivalry. I knew when I was hooking it that I would send it to Loreena as a “thank you” for the great music she gave me on her CD’s. It was very time consuming but I remember how delighted I was with the finished piece and even more delighted when I received her wonderful thank you note. But- no picture.
RugHooking Magazine is available at the big bookstores in the magazine section if you feel inclined to check it out but I have included a couple of pictures here that were featured in the story. Happy hooking!
Thanks for stopping by. ‘Till next time…Stay Gru-v!
Tish
