This is the first of a seven part series, written by one of our members, Gwen Brice it details her adventures last summer in Newfoundland. Come back each week for the next installment!
Hooked on Newfoundland: A Rug Hooker’s Road Trip
By Gwen Brice
Our trip to Newfoundland and Labrador was inspired by my love of rug hooking and curiosity about the craft’s deep roots in the province. Earlier in the year, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador Rug Hooking Guild and began following their creative community online — and soon, I was dreaming of exploring it in person. I signed up for their annual August Rug Hooking School, booked the Ferry, and broke the news to my husband: “Honey we’re going to Newfoundland in our campervan…for five weeks!”
As I planned our route, I marked studios, craft shops, and yarn stores on my map. My mission? To find locally dyed yarns and wool fabrics unique to each place we visited. Instead of collecting fridge magnets, I collect rug hooking supplies — each one a little piece of the journey. Traveling in a campervan means space is tight, so every purchase had to be intentional, and meaningful.
One of my favourite things about road trips is the element of surprise. So, while I pinned a few must-visit spots, I left plenty of room for discovery. This trip was part road trip adventure, part creative quest; one studio at a time.
We start with one of those unexpected stops. Along Route 430 heading north into the Great Northern Peninsula I see a road sign for Skivvers Fibre Studio & Wool Craft, at Cow Head. We follow the Fibre studio signs off the highway and into the community but as soon as I saw the quaint pink home, I knew this must be my destination. The Skivvers Fibre Art studio boasts a welcoming floral garden along the walk way, filled with bright coloured flowers and equally bright balls of yarn on knitting needles Yes, balls of yarn! I am definitely in the right place.
As luck would have it, Jessica, a Skivvers employee, was busy dyeing yarn in the kitchen when I walked in. She invited me into the kitchen and gladly began to explain, what looked to me a bit like a Harry Potter Potions class, the dyeing process. One of the pots simmered with marigolds, another held yarn that was soaking in a dark purple liquid. Jessica took me through the whole process. One of the walls in the dye kitchen was filled with jars of dried flowers grown in a local garden and other natural ingredients, such as bark, all used to create different colours.
The backstory to Skivvers, is that the owner, Veronica Bavis, who was away at the time of my visit, inherited the property from her Grandmother and turned it into her studio and shop, opening its doors in 2021. The front part of the studio is the shop, where yarn and rug hooking kits are displayed for purchase. The shop also sells beautifully knit socks and mitts and hooked mats by other artists.
Jessica was very helpful and knowledgeable about the rug hooking scene on this part of the island and I was very grateful for the time she spent with me, answering questions and showing me some of the wonderful dyed yarns available. After the third time my husband walked by the front of the shop with our dog, I took the hint and realized it was time to select my purchases. Talk about agony! I finally selected a variegated yarn dyed by Skivvers using Briggs and Little 2-ply Heritage yarn and headed to the check out. It was at the counter when I noticed a lovely china tea cup on a shelf next to yarn dyed to match the pattern on the china. The Sparkling Stellino yarn was a fine white yarn, with enough sparkle to draw my attention, and dyed with soft pink and green. Jessica, seeing my interest in this beautiful yarn explained that the tea cup was part of Grandma’s china that was left in the house. In a tribute to her Grandmother, Veronica Bavis dyed the yarn to match. How could I not buy some after that beautiful story?
Feeling inspired and very pleased with my yarn selections I head out to the campervan and my very patient husband to continue our journey north long the Viking Trail.
The next morning we headed off to explore the Viking settlement of L’Anse aux Meadows. This UNESCO heritage site, run by Parks Canada is fascinating and provided another opportunity to talk ‘fibre’. Staff dressed in period costumes provided a range of historical details of life in the settlement. In one of the sod and rock built buildings used for a range of daily activities was a primitive loom and a woman combing sheep’s wool in order to make yarn. She was keen to provide insight into what she was doing and speculated that the Norse woman who settled here temporarily, would have made blankets and other clothing using the wool from the sheep they brought with them. One thousand years ago, I doubt these women thought of their work as ‘art’, given their focus on survival, but it does speak to the longevity and evolution of fibre art over the last 1000 years.
The most important stop for me in my quest to explore Newfoundland’s rich history of rug hooking was in St. Anthony’s at the Grenfell Centre. Many rug hookers have heard of the “Grenfell mats”, mats hooked in straight horizontal lines from silk stockings by women in remote areas in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sir Wilfred Grenfell established the Grenfell Mission in 1892 to provide medical services, however, they also developed the “Industrial” initiative. The initiative provided local women with rug hooking kits which, once the mat was completed, was sold outside of Newfoundland, thus allowing women to supplement their fishing-season incomes. The kits included pre-printed patterns depicting local themes such dog‑sled teams, seals, polar bears, and icebergs.
Outside the Grenfell Centre, I walk past a tall bronze statue of Sir Wilfred Grenfell and I can’t help feel a little excited at what awaits inside. My first impression, however, was one of disappointment, as I entered into a foyer filled with tourism brochures. And then I turned to my left, and there, on the wall above the hall entrance were original Grenfell mats! Further along was a traditional hooking station where I couldn’t resist hooking a few stitches in the demonstration pattern, an Inuit on a dog sled. From the foyer, the gift shop is located at the bottom of the stairs. The inside wall of the stairs is covered with mats of varying sizes and subject matter, hooked by local artists and available for purchase. Many of the rugs for sale had similar Grenfell themes: Inuit, dog sleds, polar bears; while others featured traditional Newfoundland themes such as puffins, houses, and fishing shacks. All were beautiful. On close inspection of several pieces, it looked like Briggs and Little yarn had been the medium of choice.
The shop sold various books on the history of the area and its families, as well as on the craft of hooking rugs. Rug hooking kits and patterns where available for purchase and I chose a pattern based on an original Grenfell mat of an Inuit ice fishing. Many of the Briggs and Little heritage yarns were available, and of course, I couldn’t resist picking up a colour I absolutely “needed”. In keeping with my mission to only buy wool meaningful to our journey, I selected “Dark Green”, a colour representative of the hundreds of kilometres of trees we have passed on our road trip into the Great Northern Peninsula.
Leaving the gift shop, and returning upstairs, I continued my search for more original Grenfell mats. I found myself in the Tearoom and couldn’t believe my eyes. Mats adorned the walls and since the tearoom was closed for the day, there was no one there to protest, as I carefully photographed some of the mats and inspected them closely, appreciating the fine workmanship. What a treat!
On the way back to the campervan, I raise my brown paper shopping bag with my Grenfell purchases, as I passed Sir Wilfred, to acknowledge and express my gratitude at his forethought in developing a viable cottage industry from a traditional craft, and as such, empowering women to improve their lives and those of their families in remote outposts in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Tally of rug hooking supplies: 3 skeins of yarn, one pattern.
