Hooked on Newfoundland: A Rug Hooker’s Road Trip Part 6 - Woody Point - Where My Rug Hooking Journey Began

Hooked on Newfoundland: A Rug Hooker’s Road Trip

Part 6 - Woody Point - Where My Rug Hooking Journey Began

As our last week in Newfoundland approaches,  we travel back across the island toward Gros Morne National Park intent on exploring the western side of the Park and the area around Port aux Basque.  Spending five weeks exploring the island has left me inspired to hook many of the beautiful landscapes I have photographed; but I wasn’t done yet. There is one more studio I plan to visit in Woody Point, a community located within Gros Morne National Park, called Molly Made Fibre Art Studio.

My introduction to rug hooking occurred during a family trip to Newfoundland in 2006, after seeing beautiful pieces in every craft shop we visited. I was intrigued, but little did I realize that this craft would develop into a fulfilling passion much later in my life. I bought my very first rug hooking kit on that trip - a Molly Made Kit of a lighthouse.  

Arriving home, ready to embrace rug hooking I realized I needed a hook, a hoop and probably a little instruction. In short, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Thankfully, my neighbour, who was a talented fibre artist, offered to show me the basics.  After picking up the essentials at a local shop,  I eagerly attended my lesson. My introduction to the craft involved cutting up an old t-shirt and hooking a simple star on a piece of burlap, all before being brave enough to  attempt my kit. During this first lesson my neighbour gave me a rug hooking book that introduced me to the work and world of Deanne Fitzpatrick. I was instantly, and forevermore ‘hooked’. 

But life and a young family had other plans.   My budding pursuit of the craft, and my Molly Made Kit, were tucked away in a craft drawer, patiently waiting for another day. That day came, many years later, when my nest was empty and I was ready to embrace the artist within.

Woody Point is a charming, little town nestled on the shore of a fjord, with beautifully preserved, colourful homes and buildings scattered along the waterfront. We strolled out to the lighthouse to soak in the views, then wandered over to Molly Made Studio, where I met Austin, busy assembling kits.  While his wife, Molly, creates and hooks the designs, Austin makes the wooden hooks and frames.  

We chatted as Austin showed me around the studio, explaining how the kits are assembled. and I shared that my very first kit had been a Molly Made lighthouse.  Austin pulled out a binder of patterns and pointed to one. “This one?” he asked. To my surprise, it was the very same lighthouse pattern still tucked in my craft drawer - one of the first patterns Molly Made sold, nearly twenty years ago.

After Austin returned to his work, I wandered about the shop, admiring the studio kits, hooking supplies (including yarn), finished pieces and the work of other artists from knitwear to watercolour paintings. I browse the coffee and preserves display, choosing something for my husband, before selecting a new Molly Made Kit to take home.

Tally of rug hooking supplies: 6 skeins of yarn, one pattern, three cards and one kit