"Chasing away the Chill: Hook a Noggin Cozy"

This beginner hooking project plays to your sense of style, imagination and even your wardrobe—a charming winter hat reminiscent of the 1960s pill box. Best of all, the skills you’ll learn from this project will translate to any type of rug hooking you might like to do in the future. You will learn how to draw your own pattern, select colours from a luscious palette of hand-dyed wools, cut the wool into strips for hooking, and hook the loops into the design of your choice. Your “blank pattern” will be prepared with top and bottom bands sewn on and you will receive instructions for finishing the hat at home. This workshop also provides general information about rug hooking—its heritage, variety of styles, tools and equipment, and endless possibilities for self-expression.

Dates: July 21-22, 2007

Time: 9:30-3:30

Place: Old Newtown School, Home Economics Classroom, Lunenburg

Cost: $120.00 Cdn.

Supply List: $40.00 for backing, design templates, cutting equipment and wool; participants must bring a hook and frame (or hoop) or teacher will supply if known in advance.

Paulette Hackman's Noggin Cozies, original mats and hangings are sold in craft boutiques and galleries in Nova Scotia and in the US. She is on the editorial board of Rug Hooking magazine and contributes articles to that publication and others that focus on fiber arts. Her original design for a wedding hooking, “Stardust,” was featured in Piecework May/June, 2005. She is co-founder and director of Lunenburg Seaside Craft School, founded in 2001.