Deb Smith’s Journey to Hooked in the Mountains

When a rug hooking show is your destination, it’s sometimes hard to be patient on the journey. Rug Hooking magazine’s Deb Smith, however, turned her trip to Hooked in the Mountains into a wool-finding expedition that checked off all the boxes for a rug hooker’s dream road trip.

Waiting at the end of her trip, Hooked in the Mountains promises to be as rewarding this weekend as it has been in the past. Its annual event features rugs of outstanding talent and top-notch speakers. No experimental medium, subject, or technique falls outside the scope of the innovative rug hookers who attend, show, and teach. Featured artists include hookers like Liz Alpert Fay, who likes to shake things up by using unique items such as old clothing or shaping her rugs in nontraditional ways, and Davey Degraff, who immortalizes her beloved Vermont in hooked treasures. Rounding out those featured is Jackye Hanson, a jack-of-all-arts; as a teacher of painting and rug hooking classes (to name a few), she still found time to publish the design catalog “Jacqueline Designs for the Joy of Hooking.”

Attendees also get to learn from other professionals in one- or three-day workshops that range from “The Basics of Dying” to “Faces, Fur, and Feather.” A plethora of local and out-of-state vendors add to this all-star cast of rug hooking, including the Dorr Mill Store and The Wool Studio.

Even with all this excitement ahead of her, Deb still made time for some important stops along the way. Check out some of her photos below to get a peek into her weekend!