Inge Hume: Rug Hooker Extraordinaire

Flower Medley, 24" x 36", #3-cut wool on linen. Adapted from wrapping paper and hooked by Inge Hume, Silver Spring, Florida, 2005.

Inge (pronounced Inga) Hume, member of the Pearl K. McGown Hookcrafters Guild #120 of Ocala, Florida, and ATHA, is undoubtedly one of the most prolific rug hookers in our nation. She has completed well over 100 rugs and other hooked projects, and she continues to add expertly hooked rugs to her collection. Her latest masterpiece is a beautiful 3' x 5' sampler that she spied in an advertisement in Rug Hooking magazine.

Inge became interested in rug hooking back in the 1970s when she attended a country fair in upstate New York. She returned twice to a particular booth to see the wool hooking of a covered bridge, and she and her friend inquired as to how they might learn the craft. While the exhibitor was not interested in teaching, she did give Inge the name of someone who might help.

After many follow-up phone calls and an important letter to California, Inge found a certified McGown teacher who described over the telephone how to hook rugs and the tools and materials she would need. Although Inge’s friend had decided that rug hooking was not for her, Inge was determined to learn it. She drove from her home in New York to her first class at Rivier College in New Hampshire. Since then she has attended additional rug hooking schools in New Hampshire, California, and Florida.

Rug hooking became “a life saver” for Inge as she experienced difficult times in her life, including divorce, running a 100-acre apple farm, caring for her four children, teaching elementary school, and attending night and summer school classes to get her master’s degree in education. Inge has hooked everything imaginable.

This article is from the March/April/May 2015 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.