She's Hooked on Rugs
By Lori Van Ingen
Staff Writer, Lancaster Newspapers
May 4, 2009
Reba C. Miller doesn't throw away old wool coats or skirts. Instead, she turns them into beautifully designed hooked rugs.
"When I was a teenager, my grandmother (Amanda Witmer) did it, so I did, too," the 87-year-old Landis Homes resident said.
"I thought I wouldn't do it after I retired," Miller said. However, she said she was asked to make some of the rugs to show during Landis Homes' Farm Days.
"Then it got in my blood again," she said.
Hooking rugs involves drawing strips of yarn or cloth through a canvas or burlap backing using a hook.
Miller said she doesn't know how long it takes to hook a rug.
"It's like a jigsaw puzzle. I do it whenever I feel like it," she said. "I never stick at it that hard."
Miller said she begins the process by taking a burlap feed bag, washing it and then drawing a design on it.
"I use some old bags my son got at auction," Miller said. "The store-bought (burlap) doesn't seem to hold up as well."
She said she puts the burlap on an old quilting frame with a short rod and begins taking small strips of wool-blend material and pulling them through the holes using a handmade hook that belonged to her grandmother.
"The (strips) get really tight on the underside, so they don't pull out," she said.
Miller said she uses wool because it doesn't show the dirt, and the rug can be used hard.
She said she uses the colors that she has on hand, although some people dye the colors they want to use.
Miller is donating her latest creations to the Kraybill campus of Lancaster Mennonite School's 32nd annual benefit auction this weekend.
She said she has been associated with the auction for many years, adding that her husband was on the school board shortly after the school started, her three adopted children went through the school and she boarded out-of-state students.
The auction will be held Friday and Saturday at the Kraybill campus, 598 Kraybill Church Road, Mount Joy.
For more information, call 653-5236.
E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com
© Lancaster Newspapers 2009
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