www.littlehouserugs.com

                        Creating Heirlooms

Featured Rug of the Month--

August

"Trumpet Vines at the Back Door"  21"x21"

Designed and hooked by Steve Grappe, San Angelo, TX

I am a mostly self-taught rug hooker who has been hooking rugs for two years.  After a brief starter lesson with a local rug hooker, I learned the traditional rug hooking technique (fabric strips).  However, I quickly switched to punch needle rug hooking because it was so much faster*.  For various reasons I prefer hooking with wool yarn, and I like to dye my wool to get my desired color palette.

Because I can't draw, most of my rug designs are created from my photos.  This rug is punch-hooked and was designed from a photo of a New Orleans back yard.  I liked the photo and thought it would make a great rug.  I felt the lone hibiscus above the yellow trumpet vine blooms was a great subject to photograph and interpret.  The rug contains all hand-dyed wool yarn.

The color palette just seemed to evolve.  Since this was a small rug, I could use what yarn I had on hand.  I started with a key design color, in this case the blue-violet siding of the house, and after that, the blue, greens and yellows just seemed to fall into place.  A challenge I faced was hooking the trees and shrubs to make them realistic looking and with sufficient contrast to show botanical variety.  As always, the best part of hooking a rug is seeing the final rug, with its discrete bits of colored yarn, really does look like you hoped it would.  The rug was submitted to a fiber art show, and I am waiting to hear if it is accepted.  More of my rugs can be seen at my web page, fibermoon.com.

*Editor's note:  I wonder if punch hooking really is faster than hooking with yarn like I do (I am pulling the loops from the back, working on the finished side)?  Any punch hookers care to take me up on a challenge?  We can all hook the same project, using the same yarns and everything, and keep track of our times! 

Do you have a rug you would like to see featured on this website? E-mail me! It can be a rug you've made, inherited, or a treasure you've found, they all have a story and we love to hear all about them!  If your rug is featured, you will receive your choice of a free half-yard of linen (26"x36") or our "I'm a HOOKER and PROUD of it" rug hooking totebag.  To view the many beautiful rugs that have already been featured, visit our archive.