Hooked rugs are made using a hand hook. To make the hooked rug, you must take the hand hook and strips or pieces of yarn or fabric to create a looped, or hooked, pile. You can even make rag hooked rugs from pieces of old t-shirts. You can make a hooked rug with a kit or pattern; however, more advanced artists make custom hooked rugs free hand. Search for hooked rugs online and you will find everything from metis hooked rugs to trains, planes, and truck shaped hooked rugs. You options in terms of design and colors are virtually endless.
    

Another popular form of hooked rug making is known as latch hooking. Latch hooked rugs are designed differently. You must use a hinged hook for latch hooking and the pile is generally shorter than a traditional hooked rug.
    

If designing and actually making hooked rugs isn’t your thing, than there are many stores and online country boutiques that carry hooked rugs. You can purchase wholesale hooked rugs at rug outlet websites, or you can also visit some of the more well-known hooked rug designers and purchase one of their beautiful designs.
    

One of the most well-known hooked rug designers is Claire Murray. Claire Murray hooked rugs are sold on her own personal website, along with on several different sites across the internet. Her beautiful antique cotton hooked rugs are very popular as are her signature wool hooked rugs.
    

Another well-known hooked rug designer is Peggy Teich. Peggy Teich hooked rugs are generally scenic. You can easily find her folk art hooked rugs for sale across the internet as well as on her personal website. She also tours across the country to craft shows and teaches others her passion for hooked rugs.
    

Jule Marie Smith is also a well-known hooked rug designer. She considers herself a fiber artist who specializes in hooked rugs However, she not only creates the rugs; she also makes her own colors for her rugs and dyes the wool by hand. She has traveled all over the United States, teaching others her techniques and Jule Marie Smith’s hooked rugs are not only esthetically pleasing. All of her work tells a story and she encourages her students to express themselves through their hooked rugs as well.
    

The art of hooked rug making with wool goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years. The exact history of these primitive hooked rugs is debated among historians as is exactly how these people knew how to make primitive wool yarn hooked rugs. However, one thing is definitely certain: the art has been around for many years and continues to grow in popularity. Try designing your own rug and you will understand why.