I really enjoyed your rug tour!! I make "rag rugs" with a toothbrush and didn't realize it had a name! One of my favorite rugs is my "Sister Rug" - originating from all the clothing my sisters (4 of us) were ready to discard. Over the years, it has grown, just as we have grown. Now, our daughters-in- law have added to the rug. Eventually, our granddaughters will add to the rug. Thank you again for the informative journey into rug history.
The Rug Vicar's Story
A funny story about
the popular name, "Toothbrush Rugs" (Naalbinding)
When I was doing my pastoral internship in a
Finnish church in Northern Minnesota,
I used the rugs as an object lesson once. It attracted a lot of attention, and several ladies asked me how to make them. So, I set
up several meetings where I would show them how it worked. One lady was unable to make it, as she developed a medical condition, and
had to be hospitalized. I promised I would come see her in the hospital down in Duluth, and show her how then.
Apparently, my arrival
was much anticipated and talked about, because when I arrived to find her with a hoard of family around her, I was announced as the
"rug vicar." One of her daughters then said, "Oh, good, because I've been wondering how on earth you get the toothbrush handles to
stay together."
The Rev. Peter A. List
(The photo shows one of his rugs being thoroughly approved by the resident feline rug inspectors.)
This 8-strand "plaited braid" rug was made by Sandi Pratt's Grandmother who lived in Omaha, Nebraska.
She made two others in the same pattern. A big treasure in a tiny cottage...
When Paula E. and her husband bought this tiny
cottage (only 12 feet wide) she found a marvelously large treasure inside. The pieced crocheted rug is 9 feet wide by 12 feet long,
and Paula says that it was more than wall-to-wall in the bedroom where it was located. The cottage, named "The Lone Oak" is in Perkasie,
Pennsylvania, and is in what used to be a Methodist tent camp.
The rug is an extraordinary find for many reasons. It is composed of
forty-four individual rounds joined together (likely the result of many summer's labors) and its size is most unusual. (The shadow
in the background of the photo is a car's bumper.) Each round in the rug is about 18 inches across, and note the marvelously tight
and even construction of the rounds, which are uniform throughout the rug. Also, the rug is in a virtually pristine condition (notice
how bright and clear the colors are). Unfortunately, Paula has no record of the rugmaker, though the cottage was owned by a family
named Hunter for many years. This rug is truly a treasure, and an astonishing find in such a small place. --Diana
Reclaiming a family
tradition after a flood's devastation.
This is a photo of Grace Hoff, circa World War II, taken by her son, Stanley Hoff. Mrs. Hoff
is shown working on one of her rugs in her home in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, a pastime she pursued until the rug she is shown working
on covered the whole floor of the room. Her grandaughter remembers spending lots of time laying on her rugs, but sadly all of Mrs.
Hoff's rugs were destroyed in the great floods that hit the East Grand Forks area in 1997. Her granddaughter, though, wrote us looking
for directions on recreating her grandmother's rugs (they are shirred rugs, bent hook style), so now there is a new generation of
rug makers continuing this lovely family tradition.
Sandi's "Buggy Rugs" in Iowa Sandi C. of Clinton, Iowa makes lovely, traditional "Buggy Rugs" (these are the rugs discussed as "Wagon Wheel Rugs" on the Rag Rugs Tour at stop #20). Notice how she uses the colors of the "spokes" to accent the rug technique. Sandi doesn't have a website yet, but she can be reached at steamer6295@home.com