Hooked on folk art

Rug hookers share stories, wool at monthly meeting

By Barbara Soderlin, Journal staff | Sunday, June 08, 2008

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Quilting can take years upon frustrating years to master, but you can learn to hook in just a few minutes.

Stop by the Black Hills Area Rug Hookers' monthly "hook-in," and Zetha Estes will show you. She might even let you practice a few stitches on her latest project, a classic floral patterned rug.

Like quilting, rug hooking is a folk art born of necessity, but it isn't as big outside New England as quilting or other crafts. Still, it has its own magazine, and women even take hooking cruises to the Carribbean. The Black Hills hooking group got started two years ago and is gaining steam. They showed their work last year at the Central States Fair, where Estes took best of show. This summer, they have been invited to show their work at the Black Hills Quilt Show next weekend and at the Black Hills Bluegrass Festival, June 27-29.

The fact that it's easy to learn doesn't mean hooking is for the impatient. It takes practice to develop an even technique and to complete a piece, the club members say. Some think that's why younger people don't pick it up -- they don't have the time or patience.

"It's all about instant gratification -- me, me, me," Valerie Begeman said. The club members have been working on some projects for seven or eight months. A really big rug -- the kind to fill a foyer -- can take years.

They get together the first Saturday of every month in the sunny back room of the Quilt Connection on Mount Rushmore Road to chat and hook, and they also work at home in their spare time.

Laura Fitch, who lives at Ellsworth Air Force Base, hooks while her husband watches sports on TV.

He asks her, "How can you work on something while you're watching television?"

"How can I not?" she answers.

The art and tradition goes back years. Estes got started after watching her grandmother, who made rugs out of burlap and scraps of whatever material she had, even hosiery and worn-out underwear. She needed the rugs to keep her floors warm.

Modern hookers weave expensive wool strips into their cloth of burlap or linen, some creating masterpieces that sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The women in the Black Hills club design projects that fit their personalities -- classic and old-fashioned, or colorful and funky. It's an addictive craft, and they end up with so many completed pieces they give them away, likes Estes did with a rainbow trout rug she made for her son, who loves to fish.

"There's some investment," Estes said, "but you have an heirloom for your family that will last a long time."

If you go:

The Black Hills Area Rug Hookers meet the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Quilt Connection, 318 Mount Rushmore Road. The next meeting will be July 12, because of the Independence Day holiday.