So my loyal readers know I am a happy hooker and love to spend as much time as I can doing crochet. My interest in crafts does not stop there of course and recently I have been looking into Rug Hooking. I remember my Grandma doing this when I was younger and she used traditional hooks. The downside is that if like me you have pain in your fingers, wrists, arms and of course shoulders traditional hooks for rug hooking can make the pain worse. Even scarier to think about is that you can do more damage. Since I have been going through round after round of testing to find out where my pain and in similar areas is coming from I wanted to do some research.
The bottom line, traditional rug hooks can cause pain, damage and even lead to arthritis. Ouch! Explains some things about places that hurt on my Grandma, I personally want to avoid these things but still make beautiful hook rugs. That is where the Danella came into my research.
The Danella rug hooking tool makes the process safer, less painful and you can still make the kind of hooked rugs you want to make. Beautiful art does not have to be painful or lead to serious damage to your body. After looking around a little I also saw something that stood out to me, not only is the Danella safer then standard tools it is faster. Those who know me know that I like to move fast on a project when I can, I mean some of my friends call me meep meep when it comes to crochet. The Danella will allow me to do that with rug hooking as well. I thought that was fantastic.
Danella is a unique tool but already it has a solid following. More then that there is a great amount of information out there to help you use the tool. Just a couple of things that I found were a GREAT Youtube video that gives a tour of the home of Sussi Lunden and shows the stunning array of rugs she has made for her home with the Danella tool. Not only that but she gives a nice demonstration on how the tool should be used. It is a comprehensive video and I found it to be informative and work hand in hand with the book by Japanese writer Senda Eiko, everyone knows how I feel about books and self teaching too! This book is great and I feel with the video and the book in hand that I could be successful at my first outing in rug hooking and for me that is important.
When I go into a new craft I want to feel like I am going to be successful and safe with the craft. I mean you wouldn’t use power tools without the right kind of safety equipment right? So for me crafting is the same way I want to use the safest tool on the market and feel educated enough to use it. The Danella is that tool for me and Senda Eiko’s book is a great guide. I need a new rug over the Spanish tile here in Arizona anyways!
Tags: Crafts, Danella, Rug hooking
I do what is called LockerHooking. It’s (So Far) not as bad as traditional hooking and makes beautiful “rag” rugs.