They’re hooked

This was my first time being invited to try my hand at hooking.

“You can learn in 20 minutes,” said Janet Charest, a practiced hooker who knows her wool and mats. “See, just hold it like this, you can do it.”

And although she took pity on my feeble attempts to master the craft, she would not let me give up.

“Anyone can do rug hooking. It is easy. You can use your imagination. Anything you want to create is just lovely. And really, it is so much fun.”

This year the Dartmouth Heritage Matters are celebrating their 35th anniversary. Matters is another name for rug hookers. And the craft they practice does have a heritage angle.

“When settlers first moved here they used to recycle before it was fashionable to do so,” said Patty McClelland, another member of the Dartmouth group. “They used old feedbags for their burlap and bits of leftover cloth and wool. Traditionally they were used as mats. The floors were cold. They needed them. Today they can be made into much more than mats.”

As she flips through a book of her creations I am shocked at the variety and precision of her designs, my favourite was one of the Town Clock. These were nothing like the rug hooking kits I had tried as a kid.

You can buy kits that are already pre stamped with designs, or as Charest does, draw one of your own.

She transferred a picture of her grandkids onto a mat. And now she is filling in the spots, one piece of wool fabric at a time. The faces are being born. This time out of wool.

“This will hang on the wall. It is precious and means a lot to me. And will someday, hopefully, be a cherished part of our family history.”

Rug Hooking is one of the oldest crafts in Nova Scotia. The tradition is recognized and valued, all over the world.

Charest can’t name her favourite part of the craft.

“All of it. The gathering together with other people. The workshops. The hook-ins. And seeing the end result. We are proud of what we do.”

In the earliest years, rug hooking was a craft of poverty. Floor coverings in the United States came about after 1830 when factories started to produce machine-made carpets. Poor women began looking through their scrap bags for materials to use in creating their own home-made mats.

Charest says she can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for women who rug hooked over a century ago.

“You couldn’t go to Walmart and pick up a mat. They used little scraps of wool and cotton. Sometimes they dyed the scraps different colours using onion skin or beet juice. You got a hoop made, took a nail, bent it and that was your hook.”

The Dartmouth Heritage Matters have donated their mats, sold them and have them proudly displayed in homes all over the world.

And they would love to have new blood, says Charest.

“It is always great to pass on what we know, meet new people and stay active. You don’t have to follow any rug hooking rules, you can go contemporary if you want. It is part of our culture. Give it a try, it is more than fun.”

The Dartmouth Heritage Matters meet from September – June at the South End Baptist Church, 60 Hastings Dr. Dartmouth. Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

There is also a group that meets in the evening. Both groups will be starting up again in the fall. For more information contact Janet at [email protected].