Make your own rug?

Primitive rug hooking was born of necessity during pioneer times when families had to make their homes warmer. Whole families became involved in creating the rugs that decorated their homes. Today, you can fashion a rug yourself from scratch or buy a rug hooking kit.

To make a primitive hooked rug , you need the following supplies: Wool cloth scraps torn into 1/4 inch strips; a rug hook; burlap or linen backing with a design hand-drawn onto it; a stretcher bar, hoop or rug hooking frame

If you choose to go with a prepared kit, you will get rug hooking jute that has a silk-screened design on it; color location chart; rug hook; 100 percent wool cable yarn; rug hook and rug binding. One advantage of the kits is a color photo you can refer to so you can check your progress as you are working.

Primitive rug hooking is a crafting and hooking technique developed by homesteaders who were trying to create a warmer, more comfortable environment inside their homes. Because floors were damp and cold, these pioneer families all pitched in to help create these rugs, with the husband bending a hook our of an old nail and making the stretcher frame, the children tearing the wool strips out of old, wornout clothing and the wife making the rugs.

You can create pictures with your rug hooking patterns. Draw them on linen and hook the wool through yourself or buy a kit with a screen-printed design and hook wool yarn through the jute.

Fasten your pattern (the linen or burlap backing) onto a stretcher bar, hoop or a rug hooking frame. Cut the strips of wool to approximately 1/4 inch wide and at least 8 inches long. Hold your hook in your dominant hand and hold the strip of wool in the other hand. Push your hook down through the backing, catch the wool and pull it up through the burlap. Make sure you pull the first end up through to the top of the burlap as well. Continue your hooking, loop by loop, making loops about 1/4 inch tall.

Space your loops approximately three burlap strands apart so you don't crowd your loops too much.