It was the brainchild of our own Wendie Scott Davis, and while we’ve experienced these events in knitting/crochet circles, they are rare in rug hooking. We didn’t quite know what to expect….but we were blown away by the response to this, our “maiden voyage”! We had over 70 folks register for the bi-weekly zoom sessions - joining in from all across Ontario, the Maritimes and the US!
The pattern chosen was the hippie van which is the logo for the Annual Conference (“Peace, Love & Rug’n Roll”). Two versions were available - simple vs more complex with a lot of latitude for creative experimentation.
As a starting point we had the original version hooked by Susan Hartwell - she incorporated lots of bright colours and Proddy into a fantastic piece! It’s on the cover of the Spring Newsletter.
The pattern itself is available on the Annual Blog (click here) - and so far, it has been viewed almost 900 times! No two hookers have done the same thing - which is wonderful! We’ve seen:
- Amazing colour choices
- Big projects (20” or more) vs small projects (as small as 8”)
- Wool strips, yarn, polar fleece, sari silk, eyelash yarn
- Stashbusters and newly purchased materials
- Beads, buttons, zippers, pompoms, badges for bling
- Pillows, bags, tea cozy’s or embellishment for clothing - jackets, aprons and more.
There have also been some great design choices:
- Hooked and punched projects
- More/different/no flowers/symbols
- Just part of a van (or was that a teeny tiny clown car-size van)!
- Passengers added - human & canine!
- Backgrounds - rays à la Peter Max from the 60’s, or a night sky, or a landscape scene, or reverse hooking
- Fine shading, wide cut, you name it!
These choices weren’t just made in isolation: often one person would mention an idea in conversation, and it would take off like wildfire, with other folks adopting a similar (but always different) approach. This is the whole thing about the synergy of a group like this: something that starts off seemingly quite small gains momentum.
Wendie, and her co-host Ti Seymour, moved the discussion along, with tons of creative suggestions. Wendie showed us lots of examples from Peter Max, and her project used his rays in black & white to bring together her bright green van.
Ti showed us other examples of how to portray the van, as well as alternate fibres and wild colours.
We also talked about things from the 60’s - especially fashion. Look for some spectacular wardrobe choices at the Annual! There were also some discussions of technical/how-to matters…..so we were learning, even tho it didn’t feel like it!
We met 4 times over 8 weeks and everyone worked at their own pace. Some finished lickety split while others have been watching closely and mulling the best way to interpret the pattern.
We are hoping to hold a show’n tell or parade of finished works at the Annual Conference in Cobourg - so if you hooked the hippie van, please bring your pieces with you (or wear them)!
We’ll also post photos online so you can check out a few more of these vans. If you have hooked the pattern (regardless of whether you registered for the hook along), please send your photos to questions4annual@gmail.com. If you’re posting them to social media, include the hashtag #ohcghookalong in the text somewhere.
Here are a few of the photos received so far:
 |
| Roseanne Perron |
 |
| Stella Trainor |
 |
| Wendie Scott Davis |
 |
| Debbie Kijowski |
 |
| Marylou Justason |
 |
| Jayne Nevins |
 |
| Julie Brais |
 |
| Christine Van Hees |
 |
| Jennifer Wiber |
