Hookers or Pushers

Last  Friday I took a new class on an old craft of Punch Needle Embroidery with my friend MaryAnne. It was fun and very interesting.  I think I have a new hobby. 

 When you do this type of work you use a hoop and a needle that is kind of the shape of an ink pen but it has a needle at the end which has embroidery thread in the eye of the needle.  You punch the needle through the cloth and it leaves a loop of thread on the other side.  These loops form a design.  I chose a snowman pattern. 

This is my pattern and how far I was able to get in one short session.  The instructor was really good and is learning how to do something similar but on a much larger scale, using yarn or strips of felted wool.  This past holiday season I kept seeing pillows in fancy stores that were very expensive but had holiday designs in them.  I am hoping to learn how to make them myself.  I already have my first order from Eva to make one like we saw in a store in Grand Rapids.  I t had a snowflake design in the pillow.  I think that would be easy, just 2 colors.  I will keep you posted. 

While I was in Grand Rapids this past weekend we drove to Rockford (north of GR) to a little shop that sells supplies for this craft.  When the owner saw us looking at the supplies he said to me, "You're a hooker" which I understood.  It seems that you can either use a hook to pull the loops through the fabric or a needle to punch the thread through the fabric.  The people that use a hook are called  'hookers' and the people that use a needle to push the thread through are called 'pushers'.  I think that pushing is easier than hooking so I am learning the pushing part first.