Hooked Rugs - a brief history

"Hooked rug - A small rug for your hearthstone.”  The English Dictionary of 1810

In North America, hooked rugs were first made in Maine and the Maritime provinces, and later in New Hampshire and the eastern areas of Canada. A utilitarian craft originally, frugal housewives would cut pieces of old worn clothing or blankets into narrow strips and use discarded burlap feedbags for the rug foundation. Using a whale bone or special metal hook with a wood handle, the hooker pulled strips of the torn fabric up through the backing. The pulled strips formed loops, creating the nap of the rugs. First made mainly among the poorer families as bed-covers, hooking soon became a standard method to create inexpensive, sturdy and expressive floor coverings.

Designs for hooked rugs were often borrowed from quilt patterns, but could frequently immortalize a family horse, house pet or the homestead itself. Early carpet designs were bold, naïve and primitive becoming a personal expression of the maker herself.