Happy Anniversary!

This month marks our 2nd anniversary of existence!  We started out slowly, but have built up over the years!  Thank you for continuing to visit our site!

In celebration, here's a video of a TV show in the UK featuring all things crafty.  It covers several topics, but rug hooking is a primary feature of the show.  It starts with a class on rug hooking, and then moves back and forth to other crafts, finishing with a show of all the completed rugs from the class.

Sadly, the video is no longer available.  😢 but here's a clip from the program to whet your appetite:

Colour Puzzles for Tablets & Smart Phones

Rug hookers love to play with colour, and it's useful to have some understanding of colour theory when planning a rug.

For anyone with access to a tablet or a smart phone, there's now a way to hone that expertise....using puzzles!  Here are 3 games you can download to your device that will give you minutes (if not hours) of fun!  To access them, go to either:

• the app store (for iPad or iPhone users)
• google play (for android users)

BLENDOKU

It's described as a puzzle game that will challenge your ability to distinguish and arrange colours.  It'll seem pretty easy at the basic levels, but as you move up it gets harder and harder!  You're presented with a grid on which to drag colours, and a bunch of squares in the various colours.  Get them arranged in the correct order and you've won!  Website Link.

I LOVE HUE (my current favourite)

This one involves arranging "mosaics of coloured tiles into perfectly ordered spectrums."  It really does train your eye to see the smallest difference between similar colours.  Here's a link to their website with videos of game play.

COLOR MATCH

This one combines your perception of a given colour with your memory from a few seconds ago.  It presents you with a randomly selected colour for three seconds and then asks you to match that colour as closely as possible.  Sounds easy, but it's surprisingly difficult.  I had a hard time finding this one in the app store, but if you go to this link, it will have a link direct to the app store for your device.

Upcoming Hook-ins, Picnics and Fibre Festivals

This is a photo from the Google Arts site, featuring Life Magazine photos from a 1950's "rug hooking bee".

Events are updated in our calendar now.  Here's the list of items, snaffled from the OHCG Facebook page, and a couple of other sources (click on the links where available):

• March 17 - Fibre Festival - Peterborough 
• March 24 - Oshawa Burlap Loopers' Annual Spring Fling Hook-in
• April 7 - Oxwood Hooking Artisans Hook-in (Woodstock)
• April 14 - Moira Mat Makers' Hook-in
• April 14 - The Gathering, A Yarn & Fibre Fest, Port Hope
• April 21 - Burlington Hook-in
• April 23 - Northumberland Rug Hookers monthly meeting - NOTE THE CHANGE OF USUAL DATE!
• April 24 - Display and talk by Alice Williams of her aboriginal-themed quilts, Ruth Clarke Activity Centre, 7 pm
• May 4-6 - Hooked on Waterways - Annual Conference, Ottawa.  Open House May 6
• May 26 - Prince Edward County Fibre Festival
• June 27 - Y2K Rug Bugs Picnic (Goodrich)
• July 3 - Westport Hook in (apparently sold out?)
• July 19 - Karen Kaiser's Hook-in (Belleville) 9:30-3:00
• July 26 - Martina Lesar's picnic (apparently sold out?)
• October 13 - Woodstock Fleece Festival

Note that this is not an exhaustive list - there are likely lots more events to be added, but this should keep us going for now!  If you know of an event not listed here, please let us know.

Faded with Age

At today's Thursday gathering some folks brought in a lovely rug. They were looking for some info on its restoration.

It’s a gorgeous rug, possibly a Tremblay. It’s a scene from Lac St Jean in Quebec.  Hooked in yarn, maybe cotton.

But look at the difference when you flip it over to view the reverse:

The difference in colour from the front to the back is amazing!  It was a very vibrant rug in it's day.  It may have been displayed in the sun, or it may just be natural fading over time.

The border was something else that caught our attention.  It's hard to see from the photo below, but the corners have been hooked in a mitred fashion - very neat!