More than Meets the Eye

International Code Flags.  Welcome, 8" x 10", punch needle on cotton.  Designed and hooked by Abby Chapple, Great Cacapon, West Virginia, 2010. 

When I was a little girl my Southern grandmother taught me her version of pig latin.

This special language gave us neighborhood kids our own secret code. We could plan, walk, talk, and play, and the adults didn’t know what we were saying. It was our secret code, and I was hooked—pun intended.

All these years later, I am still fascinated with the whole magical subject of codes, everything from symbols and ciphers to signals and signs. In my mind there are three main kinds of codes that we use in our everyday lives—visual, auditory, and tactile. Think of them as inspiration for your rug hooking.

To read more from Abby about hooking using secret codes, please see the January/February 2012 issue of Rug Hooking magazine.  To purchase a copy of this issue, please click here or to subscribe to Rug Hooking, click subscribe.