A hooked rug by Cynthia Garrels. (Photo courtesy Rutherford Library)
Come to the Rutherford Library in South Bristol at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, for light refreshments and the opening of a display of hooked rugs made by Cynthia Garrels, her uncle Mansfield “Mike” Hunt, and her great aunt Helen.
Garrels, who resides in her uncle’s home in Christmas Cove during the summer months, will be in attendance to answer questions and tell stories of her family’s craftiness.
According to Garrels, rug hooking is a craft practiced by her family for generations, putting into practice the motto “use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.” She describes her aunt’s rugs as “so skillfully done that it was hard to tell the back side from the right side” and said her uncle, a long time Christmas Cove resident, told her he learned rug hooking from her great aunt Helen.
Hunt was also a knitter, and learned to knit from his grandfather, who knit the family’s socks during the long Aroostook County winters.
Garrels said she assumed she would absorb the ability to hook rugs having watched the practice going on around her starting in childhood. When that didn’t happen she signed up for classes with Diane Langley, a multi-talented artist from Westport Island, and has since enjoyed being part of a rug hooking group called Kindred Spirits that meets weekly in Damariscotta.
This show of beautiful rugs illustrating the historic craft of rug hooking will run from Wednesday, June 12 through Wednesday, June 19.
For more information about this event, call 644-1882, email sblibrary2000@gmail.com, or check the Facebook page for Rutherford Library Maine. The library is located at 2000 Route 129 in South Bristol. Regular hours are noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
