DAVENPORT, Ia. – A length of burlap-colored linen is stretched taut across a square wooden frame on a pedestal. In one hand, Beth Anne Smiley holds a thin strip of colorful wool under the linen, and ...

At first, primitive rug hooking was practiced mainly by the poorer classes, but it grew into an art form prized by all, Smiley explains. People used established patterns as well as those of their own ...