Dream Butterflies!

A small sampling of Anita White's Long Lovelies.

Back in March of 2026, I learned of an opportunity to teach a mini-class. At that moment, I happened to be admiring Anita White's "Long Lovelies," those beautiful strips of wandering color. I thought that maybe a rug hooker could use those brilliantly dyed pieces to mimic dazzling butterfly wings. Hence, the "Dream Butterfly" mini-class, where we would discuss why we find REAL butterflies so beautiful (their symmetry and dazzling color), and then invent our own DREAM Butterfly species!

Each complete butterfly was 12 inches square. Notice the intensity of forewing color close into the body of the butterfly. This is what the Lovelies can do for us!

Before I taught the class, I figured I'd better hook a butterfly! Anita's lovelies did indeed make for gorgeous wings! While I was hooking, a handout started to take shape, instructions and a diagram of butterfly parts: the dark outline; the antennae and body hooked with dotted woolens (honeycomb), which is colorful, but tempered by the black dots; the forewings hooked in a #7, with colors placed strategically; hindwings; background; and border.

I ended up making four butterflies (and later, a fifth), trying different colors, backgrounds, and ways of making the wool work for me. I experimented with my dark outline, making it thin and thick.

The handout ended up at 4 pages--a bit much for a 12-inch square mat, but a couple of hookers bought the kit to take home, so I was glad I'd made the instructions complete.

At Prairie Primitive Rug School in Brandon, South Dakota, I was helping Anita with wool sales in her class. Registration for the Dream Butterfly mini-class went on sale Monday morning, and we immediately went above our maximum number of 12 students, which meant that I happily cut wool and drew patterns that afternoon, making more kits. Students came by to select their piece of Anita's Lovely wool! To keep the kit price down, I offered Short Lovelies, but students could buy the longer version from Anita. Many of them did!

Come evening, we all sat down to hook butterflies of many colors. Once we had discussed why the REAL butterflies are so striking, it was time to invent our own DREAM butterfly species. And they were beautiful!

Below, you'll see a few of those that were finished at Prairie Primitive! If any students are reading, do send a photo of your butterfly, and I'll add it here.

Frames: My brother built the little 12-inch matte black frames for these, making the butterflies look so pretty on a wall! He charges only $25 per frame (and we can quote a price for any size).

Hooked butterflies on exhibit at the Hoff Family Arts Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, part of a show of 45 hooked pieces that resulted from our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the Iowa Arts Council.

At this writing on 7/31/26, my Dream Butterfly series is part of an exhibit at our local arts center, the Hoff Family Arts Center. The show is sponsored by PACE, Pottawattamie Arts Culture and Entertainment. The large rug of a Monarch and Milkweek was designed and hooked by Suzanne Cantrell during our yearlong apprenticeship experience! Fun to hang our butterflies together.

Dotted woolens, dyed by Anita White. These can be dull or bright, but the black dots temper the color, so that we can mute the bodies and antennae of our butterflies.

The Upshot:

We can be inspired by our wool! Had I not been looking at Anita's Long Lovelies and her dotted woolens, I would not have imagined Dream Butterflies or hooked my five of them. I hope those who signed up for the mini-class enjoyed them as much as I did!

BELOW, please find more photos of our class and our butterflies! And thank you for reading my Noodlings!

Jean hooked a very beefy dark outline, which makes her butterfly! Her Short Lovely gave her blue greens and yellow greens for her forewings and hindwings.

Linda went for a warm orange Lovely. She usually hooks in tiny cuts, so this was quite a departure for her.

Caryn hooked this one--so pretty. I offered little yarn and fiber bundles for backgrounds, and Caryn supplemented with her own wool.

complete this caption. The bright butterflies gave students a little change from the larger projects they were hooking in 4-day workshops with their teachers.

Happy Butterfly Hookers. 🙂