Saltbox House/Lana Armstrong

About 30 years ago I came across three beautiful hooked coasters in an antique shop that portrayed different houses or cottages in three different seasons. I wondered about how they were made, who had made them, and about how much time it must have taken to create them. The colors were varied and carefully selected to represent the seasons. I thought they were much too nice to use as coasters, so I had them framed. When I look at them now, I can see that they were hooked with #3 wool strips.

A few years later, a friend brought a rug she was working on to a gathering. She was using wide wool “primitive” strips. She showed me her strip cutter and allowed me to hook a few loops on her rug and even gave me a hook. Later, while on a family vacation on the Cabot Trail of Cape Breton Island in Canada, I saw beautiful, hooked rugs in the small fishing village of Cheticamp. Many of these pieces were made with wool yarn. I was intrigued once again. But I had no time: I was working full-time as a teacher, helping my husband with our farm, and raising our family. When the pandemic hit I found myself with more time. My kids were older and I had recently retired from teaching. Inspired by those coasters I purchased at least 30 years before, by my friends’ tutorial, and the Cheticamp rugs, l purchased a kit online. I followed the instructions, did some research on YouTube, and purchased some rug hooking books. I even used the hook my friend had given me at least 10 years earlier. I adapted the design a bit to reflect a prairie scene, as I live on the Canadian prairies.