N.B. rug-hooking group enjoys weekly pastime in iconic building

N.B. women hooked on rug hooking The Carnegie Rug Hookers meet-up every week to create memories and beautiful textile art.

SAINT JOHN — Once a week, members of The Carnegie Rug Hookers meet at the Saint John Arts Centre to chat and hook. Meeting at a former library every Friday, it’s a building that inspires them; and also gave them their name.

The building was one 2,800 libraries built around the world over a century ago by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Now, dozens of rug hookers – mostly women – meet regularly to hook together.

"We go down for coffee breaks in the morning, and there's the most beautiful stain glass windows,” says rug-hooker, Joanne Thompson. “I mean, who gets to sit and rug hook or enjoy this every Friday? It's a beautiful building."

“We all draw from one another, and somebody can walk in that's brand new, never hooked before, and you can still learn from that person because they have an idea – that's what's wonderful about it,” says rug hooker, Paula Weiss. “Everybody has an idea, and everybody has something to contribute."

The devotees say their pastime is good for the brain.

"It is stimulating because I get to work with colours and decide on colours, and those are the big decisions; what colour comes next,” says rug hooker, Tzigane Caddell. “But when I'm hooking, I'm actually not thinking about hooking, my mind goes in other directions – it's a wonderfully meditative state."

For some, it’s an opportunity to recreate places that no longer exist.

"It's my childhood home,” says Anne Legere, who made a rug design of her former dwellings. “The home was built in the 1930s and torn down in the late '80s."

Her homestead was in Glace Bay, but she was introduced to rug hooking after moving to Saint John – where she got hooked.

"You're kind of absorbed in what you're doing and nothing else,” says Legere. “Nothing else going around bothers you."

While some of the art the hookers create will actually find a place on their floors at home, some aren’t so sure.

"It's going to be a wall hanging,” says Legere laughingly. “I have two cats, so I wouldn't dare put it on the floor.”

Meanwhile, the Carnegie Rug Hookers will meet back at the former library next week – same day, same time.