Hi all;Well I haven't been doing quite as much quilting as usual :) I've been rug hooking again. I really love doing this stuff. I love the whole process of it. This was a kit that I had purchased quite some time ago and am now finally getting around to. I didn't list this as a UFO because I hadn't started it yet. I wonder what you would call a kit that you have had for a while but not started. UFK maybe (unfinished kit)? Anyways, this is just a small project that I may turn into a pillow of I may leave it as a small table topper.
Our local opportunity shop was having a half price sale so I went in and cleaned them out of 100% wool jackets. I think that the men's jackets are the best that I've seen so far but I am a newbie at finding wool.I ordered a rug hooking gripper frame from Bee Creek Ltd which should be here in April. I can't do anything larger than about 14" in my Q-Snap frame so any larger project really does require a better set up. I love rug hooking enough so I thought that a frame would be a good investment. Next I just need to find a reasonably priced cutter.
Speaking of thrift store finds, This is a complete rug hooking kit that I found at my local opportunity shop for only $5.00!! Regular price on it is $65.00 USD! Someone had already started it and I guess they decided that they didn't like it. It's for a half-circle house and flowers and it contains all of the wool strips needed. It also had a hook in it too. It was a different hook from what I have so I was happy with that find as well. Actually, as another second hand find, I got another hook for $0.25. Considering that the hooks cost at least $8.00 new I'm pretty happy to find them :)
Sorry this wasn't a quilting post but at least it is textile related :) Do any of you rug hook as well?
6 comments:
Don't you just love thrift shop bargains! I go regularly and usually find something worth bringing home. My big regret is leaving a mangle. It was $25 and I usually don't like to spend more than $10. Since that there have been several posts from bloggers who love them for ironing large pieces of fabric. Oh well, I'll probably see one again some day. Your rug hooking project looks great.
I do rughooking, and am I ever envious of your 'opportunity' store!!! I have never found any rughooking tools at our thrift shop. I've bought a ton of wool clothes to recycle tho. :D Lucky, lucky you finding a complete kit at yours! :)
I've never tried it. Sock knitting is my new challenge now that winter isn't far away (not that you'd know it)
I bought a little rug hooking kit in Nova Scotia and it is still in the bag :))
What do you do with the men's wool suits? Do you cut them into strips to use for rug hooking?
Hi Pam Yep I cut them into strips to use for rug hooking. I want to over dye some of them so that I can have a bunch of different colours. Eventually I would like to get a strip cutter but for now my rotary cutter will have to do. If you want to sends that little kit my way just let me know LOL! :)
I'm green with envy too... I pick up lots of 2nd hand wool clothes at our local thrift shops, but haven't been lucky enough to find rughooking kits, hooks, etc. Down here in the maritimes, it's mostly Frenchy's... but the Salvation Army, Value Village and any other thrift shops are great fun to search. There's always something neat or just such a bargain I have to buy it! Maybe that's why I'm running out of space... definitely hooked on rugs... visit our rughooking group's blog, if you like: http://quoddyloopers.blogspot.com/
As for using men's suits for slitting up for hooking - of course you wash them first to get the wool to full or felt slightly so it doesn't unravel on you after it's cut. Even before that, if there is iron-on interfacing on significant areas of the jacket [men's or women's] one of our group found that if you press it, the glue gets soft and it's easy to strip off the interfacing, thus giving you more useable fabric. And the dyeing is great -- so is marbleizing, which uses the dye from one fabric [even linings or those you hoped were 100% wool and found out otherwise when you got home] when rolled up with other colours and tied loosely, then simmered together for awhile to bleed colour from one fabric to the next. I use the selvages or serged edges as ties and they sometimes add nice bits of colour too. cheers, maureen
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