Sibyl Osicka came to Sebastian for a three day workshop on January 21st – 23rd for members of the Gator Group Rug Hookers. A total of seventeen members signed on to the workshop to learn from one of the best McGown instructors in the nation. Her emphasize was on fine shading, however, she stated “Not everyone is interested in fine shading and that is fine, but some of my thoughts can be taken over to wide cut and applied.”

This was a very well organized workshop and many different areas of rug hooking were covered. Sibyl covered so many avenues of rug hooking that it did not matter if you were a beginner, intermediate or advanced hooker, everyone learned something in this workshop.
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She shared many helpful hints during this workshop. Some of them are listed below.

• Good rule of thumb; hook your loops as high as your cut wool is wide.
• It is very important that you keep the canvas of the rug pattern as tight as possible on the frame. This helps to keep the loops even and enables you to work faster.
• The back of the rug should look as neat as the top surface. Bring all ends to the top.
• Be sure to place the pattern on the frame so it is straight and not on the bias. If placed on the bias it will distort the pattern and will never return to its original shape before or after steaming.
• Wool fabric should be cut with the selvage or on a torn edge, as the threads must run full length of the strip. Material that is cut the least bit diagonally will fall apart.
• When planning a rug pattern, always choose the background color first and build the colors of the design around the background color.
• Remember to hook inside the line of the motif otherwise the motif will become too large and you will lose the shape of it.
• Periodically, all artist step back and view their work from a distance to see if they are achieving the effect they desire.
• NEVER fold your pattern, this will break or weaken the folded area. Roll it on a tube for storage.
• Balance dark colors with light colors.
• Do not store rugs in an airtight bag as this can cause dry rot. Instead roll them right side out, in a clean sheet with some moth flakes.
• Always hook highlights higher and shadows lower. Remember highlights come forward and shadows recede.
• When hooking the background, hook the first row around the motif a little lower. If you do it the opposite way the motif will look sunken in.
• Always date and sign a rug picture. Use a value of one of the swatches in the rug for the initials. Place date on one end and initials on the other end (close to a motif) for balance.
• Fingering with a shaded swatch, is done by hooking two rows of one shade far enough apart at the ends so another shade can be hooked in between and extended farther out than the last shade. Repeat with the next shade so there will be no definite line stopping and starting from one shade to the next.
• Always use 100% wool yarn for whipping. One way to figure how much yarn you will need is to calculate 17 to 20 times the circumference of your hooked piece. (width x length x 2= circumference) For the herringbone stitch multiply by 22 to 24 times the circumference.
• Be aware of horizontal lines that may cut your composition into equal parts. They should be either low or high horizontal lines, but never in the middle of your pictorial.

Many thanks to Judi Overly who organized this workshop for our group. It was a huge success!

“Ode to My Wife, the Hooker”
 By Cyvia Simmons
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She learned to hook on Monday, her loops were going fine.
She forgot to thaw our dinner, so we went out to dine.
 
She hooked pretty daisies Tuesday, she said they were a must.
They really were quite lovely, but she forgot to dust.
 
On Wednesday it was strawberries, she said the fingering’s were fun.
What highlights!  And what Shadows!  But the laundry wasn’t done.
 
She hooked apples on a Thursday, so juicy, bright, and red.
I guess she really got engrossed for she forgot to make the bed.
 
It was violets on Friday, in colors she adores.
It never bothered her at all that crumbs were on the floor.
 
I hired a maid on Saturday, so my week was now complete.
My wife could hook for hours, yet the house would still be neat.
 
Well, it’s already Sunday, and I’ve gone by the book.
I’ve cursed, I’ve raved, I’ve raged, my wife taught the maid to hook.
Oh Lord, one more project!

​This was a very good workshop. Judith and Marta had many projects to show the many ways Proddy can be incorporated in your rug hooking designs. We had a hands on class where they were very helpful in showing us how to make beautiful Proddy flowers. They both stated that the book “Prodded Hooking for a Three Dimensional Effect by Gene Shepard” is a very good book to learn proddy.  All who attended this class was very appreciative of Marta’s and Judith’s contribution and time spend preparing for this class.