Nancy Morris grew up in a family of crafters, known in those days (a long time ago) as "handwork." She writes: "From the time I could hold needles, hooks, etc., I was expected to spend time with Grandmother learning how to knit, embroider, and hook. My Mother took up hooking in a big way, studying under Pearl McGowen the founder of the original rug-hooking guild, and that was the start of my love for the craft."

For grandmother, mother, and daughter, rug hooking was less expensive than psychiatric treatment. Nancy took it up seriously during the years her children were born and growing through the Terrible Twos and Threes. One day a week she attended a class with a certified McGowan trained teacher. There, she learned technique, color planning, and material dyeing.

When she could coerce her children to go to bed, she would spend half the night hooking. Family problems occurred on dyeing days when all the pots in the kitchen were filled with cooking wool. Her husband would then make a trip to McDonald's.

There are two predominate types of hooking: primitive and traditional. Most of Nancy works are traditional in details and shading. She also does a great many Native American designs, which, Nancy says, "are fun."

Wool is the usual material she incorporates into her pieces,new and used from second-hand clothingshops. When she color plans, she uses material color-as-is, dyes with professional formulated dyes, or dyes with natural mixtures made from plants and minerals.

She cuts the wool into narrow strips and uses a hook similar to a crochet hook to pull loops of the material through a loose-weave cloth such as burlap.Currently, Nancy takes classes in Buckeystown, MD with Elizabeth Black. She's learning how to hook animals, which are difficult to do. But she wants to produce rugs of all her past and present dogs. This, she says, "should keep me busy for the rest of my life."